The Cursed Gift
by icebluehost
Summary: The gang find themselves involved in a dangerous war as Konema orders them to retrieve a simple necklace. In the middle of it all, they meet a mysterious woman who is everyone's last hope in saving the three worlds from complete destruction...HieiOC
1. Prologue

Author's note: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho. But I certainly own the OC's and the plot of the story. I hope you guys will like this fic. It's a bit sloppy with some wrong grammars but hopefully it will be fine x.x And I would like to say sorry in advance for posting these stories late. I've had similar experiences with other stories but hopefully this won't be as bad as the others.

Underlined words mean that the story is moved from one scene to another (I hope I'm making sense). _Italic _words are the thoughts of the characters.Feel free to answer any other questions you have for me. I'll try my best to answer them as the story progresses.

**Prologue**

Once a month in a small village in Makkai called Tarleina, as the warm autumn sun blazed over the houses and the large stone castle situated at the center, a monthly ceremonious ritual occurred. It was at this day that a crowd-filled with different types of youkais-usually gathered at the front of the castle doors before a large wooden stage. 20 year old Falkean pushed his way through this agitated crowd while grumbling softly to himself. Noting his unsecured grey robe, he was relieved that he had left all of his valuables back at the inn he was staying at. If someone decided to pickpocket him he would have had no problem with getting his items back. But then to him it wasn't worth the trouble. The sound of crumpling leaves beneath his feet could barely be heard above the murmurings of the villagers around him. He was suddenly shoved back futher into the crowd as something began to stir ahead of him near the castle doors. The man found himself struggling to stay upright at the center of this rowdy group.

_What on earth is going on in this village?_

He turned to a book vendor beside him and held his shoulder, trying to call his attention above the noise of the crowd.

"Excuse me sir...but what is all the ruckus about?" The book vendor narrowed his eyes at Falkean and grunted, turning his attention back at the front. Falkean frowned and turned to another young man at his side, attempting to ask the same thing. But it seemed like the man couldn't hear Falkean and was talking instead to a woman who was standing with him.

"So they're going to tell us about the two girls huh? It's about time. I feel bad for treating them both badly." The woman nodded in agreement.

"Yes. We have made a drastic and disappointing change on both girls for the last 5 years. I heard from the maids that ever since their father's death the younger twin has always been crying late at night. She is never sure of herself anymore and worst of all, they said she has made many attempts on suicide. On the other hand, the older twin acts like a cold, emotionless, machine. She trusts no one, never talks to anyone and depends only on herself. Such poor kids..."

Before the young man could reply to the woman, the sound of a gong rang aloud, silencing everyone immediately. Falkean's caramel brown eyes turned to the front and spotted a familiar looking old man walking up the stage with an elegant oak cane on one hand. A smile curled up on his lips as he looked at Olen, one of his old teachers many years ago. He recalled hearing his old teacher tell him that he was leaving the clan since he wanted to see more of the world but never expected him to become a part of a royal court. The old man's hair had a natural-but much lighter-brown color to it and had many streaks of grey among them. His eyes though, were still a bright, healthy blue and his face, as Falkean had always remembered, still bore the silent, intimidating stare that everyone back in the Guild feared and respected. The blue orbs glanced through the crowd of youkais slowly as if in inspection and stopped as they reached the last of the people at the back. Then Olen cleared his throat and spoke in a low and loud voice, a voice that did not suit his height and form.

"We have arrived at a conclusion my fellowmen." He paused and glanced over his shoulder at the two 5 year old fraternal twin girls and motioned them to stand beside him before continuing his announcement. One of the girls had walked ahead of the other and stopped right beside Olen. She had silver-blue hair and a face that revealed no emotion whatsoever. Her round, silver, tear-strained eyes though, revealed a lot of pain and sadness. The other girl timidly walked behind the former-sniffing as she did-and looked around her nervously with equally stressed eyes. Raven black hair and black eyes looked back at him with fear and confusion. Falkean noticed dark brown stains on both their gowns and guessed by the pained looks on their faces that it was their own dried blood.

"The two princessess have been examined and this is the result of the examination. Show them your arms!" Olen ordered. At once, the black eyed, raven black haired girl obeyed and lifted the sleeve of her long gown. On her whole right arm, engraved bloodily on her flesh, was a mysterious ancient text. Fresh, warm blood dripped down her elbow onto the stage, forming a small crimson puddle before her. The youkais gasped as they stared at the very top of her arm, near the shoulder, and saw the famous symbol of light. Falkean widened his eyes in surprise and could not help but gasp as well as his eyes caught sight of the text and the symbol.

_But that's-I see...so Lord Olen is staying here...in the infamous village. If this girl is the Child of Light then the other must be..._

As Falkean thought of this the other twin began to grow nervous, actually showing the first signs of emotion to the surprise of the villagers. Her emotionless appearance had broken away and was replaced with anxiety and fear. She looked at the crowd hesitantly before lifting the sleeve of her own gown. Another chorus of gasps errupted as the bloody flesh of her left arm revealed similar engraved texts with the symbol of darkness at the same spot where the raven haired girl bore the symbol of light. Now that the two had been revealed the crowd became restless once more. Murmurs and whispers errupted and grew louder until it was the only thing anyone could hear. The next thing Falkean knew, all the youkais were throwing stones and rotten food at the girl bearing the symbol of darkness.

"Kill her! The monster must be killed before she gains control of her powers and kills everyone else. She'll definitely get her revenge at us for treating her badly."

"The cursed child has no right to live!"

"If you're not going to kill her then we will!"

The silver-blue haired girl used her small hands, trying to defend herself from the continuous attacks of the villagers but failing miserably. A small rock connected to her head and Falkean watched her fall to the ground in shock and concern. He noticed with relief that it only caused a red mark to appear and didn't make a serious injury to her head. But the little girl lay there on the ground on all fours, muttering softly to herself while tears fell from her eyes. Then all of a sudden he felt a small energy growing stronger and stronger and saw a black aura surrounding the girl. He was overwhelmed at the rush of incredible power that was hidden in the little girl's small and languid body.

_How can a small girl possesses such a very strong but dormant energy? It's quite big and uncorrupted too. If she is able to control that kind of strength and used it well to our advantage she would become a very important ally..._

Falkean looked around and saw the villagers screaming and running away from the stage, sensing their confusion and fear at what was happening before them. He struggled against the panicked crowd as they ran towards him and pushed him in all directions. Everyone else on the stage backed away in fear while Olen stepped foward and tried to contain her power in a barrier he created. Falkean frowned at the transparent shield.

_That barrier's not going to last with a power like hers._

Falkean quickly summoned up his energy and placed it around the girl and Olen's barrier. As he expected, the girl's powers were too strong for Olen's barrier and broke it. Luckily for him that power wasn't controlled enough to destroy his own shield. The aura became enclosed in his barrier and exploded around the girl with a big bang. The sound was loud enough to make everyone stop and stare back at the stage in curiosity. Smoke billowed inside the barrier and as a result, no one could see what had happened inside Falkean's shield. Olen stared in shock, then turned his head to Falkean's direction and widened his eyes even wider. A smile came across Falkean's face-amused at his old teacher's reaction-as he stepped foward and hopped onto the stage. Olen relaxed and inclined his head towards him.

"It's good to see you again Falkean. I never expected to see any old face here after all these years." He told him.

"Yes Lord Olen. It has been too long...I was very surprised to find you a part of a royal court and of all courts this one." Falkean replied. Olen gave him a small smile and nodded.

"It really wasn't part of my plan but I guess things seemed to lead me here. They needed someone with magical knowledge. They don't have any healers as well and so I became their official one. And ever since then I've been taking charge of a lot of things. Especially this..." His eyes moved towards the barrier. Falkean followed and saw that the smoke had dispersed and the girl was lying on the ground exhausted. After lifting the barrier from the little girl, he looked back at Olen with a new determination set in his eyes.

"Lord Olen I-"

"Take her away!" A voice boomed out among the rest, interrupting Falkean's sentence. He and Olen turned around and saw a woman who he guessed was the queen sitting on a throne at the side of the stage. Now that he looked at her, he saw that the queen had covered her face with her hands and was wailing mournfully. He could barely hear anything over the murmrus and whispers but managed to hear the queen mutter a jumble of words like,_ "Why did this happen to me?", "This is so shameful."_ and lastly _"If only he was here..."_ The queen quickly wiped the tears from her eyes and stood up from her throne to address everyone, speaking in a shaky but loud enough voice that silenced even the more ruthless youkais.

"Take her away at once. She shall be dealt with accordingly by the guards." She said. At the command guards in full armor walked up and took both arms of the unconscious silver-blue haired girl. The other raven haired twin was crying and was trying to near her sister but other guards had come to stop her. Falkean narrowed his eyes as he watched the scene before him, clenched his fist firmlyand gritted his teeth in anger. He had heard the stories about the monthly ritual but it was only then that he realized how bad it really was.

_How can they be so cruel to someone so young and innocent, who doesn't even understand what had just happened to her? Why must they go through this suffering when they never did anything to deserve it?_

"Poor girls." Olen muttered, as if he had read Falkean's mind.(AN:well he could have but he didn't then) "They're going through so much at such a young age. The children in them had disappeared along with their childhood days...sometimes I wish I can do something to help everyone who's experiencing the same thing." At this he gave out a soft and weary sigh. Falkean thought it was time he spoke to him about what he was thinking.

"Lord Olen I want to discuss with you about something that may help them a little..."

switch scene

Hours later both Falkean and Olen were walking through the dark dungeon halls towards one of the very last cells at the end. Neither of them spoke, feeling calm and content at the silence that enveloped them. They had just discussed Falkean's plans thoroughly. Olen wasn't too happy with the idea but he knew Falkean was capable of helping them out. At last they paused at the front of a closed cell. Olen opened the door with a spare key he had and entered, followed by Falkean. The two had quite a shock as they saw an empty room before them. It was very dusty and smelled of blood, rotten vegetables and decomposing animals all at the same time. A bloody sheet lay on the broken down cot, telling them that it had been recently used. Olen looked around him and shook his head in disbelief.

"How is this possible? Where on earth is she?"

Falkean couldn't answer the old man as he stared at the cell before him. His eyes gazed from the dark and cold walls to the bloody old cot at the end. A small and dirty toilet was positioned at the top right corner of the room filled with what he feared as puke, urine and even a dash of blood. Lastly he stared at the shackles that were left on the floor. He crouched down and took them in his hands, examining the blood and scratches on them. He imagined a little silver-blue haired girl-trapped in this prison cell-alone, afraid and cold, with no one to comfort her or to take away the pain. A little girl who longed to see her family-the people she trusted the most-who instead had thrown her away and never wanted to see her again in shame. Olen watched as Falkean's hands gripped the shackles firmly, trembling slightly at the intense fury that was swimming in his heart at that moment.

_Damn it all...how could they do this to her? This horror that she never deserved? What are those people thinking, taking her here and exposing her to this cruel reality? Haven't they had enough with the others before her? Can't this horrible ritual stop..._

"Councilor Olen." A voice spoke, breaking the uncomfortable and tense silence that had enveloped the two. As a response Falkean and Olen turned towards the door and saw one of the guards standing there.

"Where is the girl?" Olen asked him. The guard frowned in reply.

"She is gone sir, probably dead. The highness asked us to beat her up and throw her off the cliff." He explained. Falkean widened his eyes and had accidentally let a bit of anger reveal itself. The guard tensed in fear as he watched Falkean stand up and glare at him. He could almost see red, fiery flames rising from the man's caramel brown eyes. Olen gently held Falkean's shoulder and the guardsaw the flames die instantly. The 20 year old man looked back at his old teacher, disappointed and regretful.

"Falkean I'm so sorry..." Olen whispered. "I know how much you wanted to try. But I guess sometimes things just don't go our way." Falkean gave a sigh and nodded in reply. His muscles finally sliding down to their relaxed position. The guard allowed himself a very small sigh of relief as he looked at Falkean warily.

"It's not your fault Olen. I thank you for trying though. I shall be off then. I have no other reason to be here."

"Very well. Take care."

Falkean nodded to him and turned to regard the guard for a few seconds before walking past him to the flight of stairs at the other end of the hall. He left the castle and immediately headed for the inn. It was time to leave Tarleina. There was nothing else he could do there. He packed up the small items he owned into a small travelling bag, placed it over his shoulder, paid the owner for his stay and began to walk towards the exit.

The village was set at the top of a very high plateau and Falkean had to walk all the way down to reach the road below. A lot of things were swimming in his mind and he pondered over them as he slowly walked through the long slope. He had been thinking so deeply that he almost didn't notice the small form on the ground or the muffled sobs that were coming from the figure. He quickly pulled his guard up, turning to the source of the sound. He gave a sharp intake of breath though when he saw what it was. He crouched beside the silver-blue haired girl and held her head gently like a porcelain vase. The little girl was asleep but she was sniffling softly to herself, probably dreaming of the events that had just transpired. The tears had stopped streaming down her face but drops of it still lay on her cheeks. Falkean looked further down and saw that she was lying in a very large puddle of blood, drenched in the same substance. Scratches, deep cuts and bruises decorated her whole body, immediately indicating that it was the source of the blood. She was very battered; most of her bones were broken from the fall and were jutting out disgustingly but he was more surprised at the fact that she had come out of the ordeal alive.

"You...you survived the cliff?" He whisphered, as if expecting her to reply to him. The little girl continued to sleep, struggling with what remained of her ribs and lungs to sniff from time to time. He gently placed his palm on her forehead and allowed a glowing blue light to come from his hand and surround the girl's body. It worked its magic on her as it healed all of her cuts and bruises and fixed the broken bones. When it was finished he carried her and stood up, doing his best to keep her asleep while he did.

_I guess this is alright...I did get her didn't I?_

switch scene

The little girl never expected to see what she saw as soon as she had opened her eyes. The cotton white clouds moved about in different shapes and forms above the blue sky and the red golden leaves that were still hanging from a tree glittered in the bright sun. She blinked and sat up, rubbing her eyes and removing any remaining signs of sleep as she did. Her hand hovered in mid air as she realized what she had just done. She looked down at her hands and felt her whole body. There were no scratches and no broken bones. Just smooth, pale skin and the permanent engraved text on her left arm. Then she looked around again and found herself in a small circle of trees. There was a bag lying on a trunk of a tree a few meters away and a burned out campfire before her.

_What am I doing here...? I'm...I'm supposed to be dead by now._

A hand with some bread in hand appeared in front of her face to her surprise. She looked up and saw a familiar, handsome, tall and lean man in a black sleeveless vest over a white polo shirt crouching beside her with a smile. Her eyes caught a grey robe hanging from a branch and it was at that moment when she realized that he was the same man who had stopped her from wreaking havoc in Tarleina. His caramel brown eyes were gentle and warm while the glowing brightness of his golden hair was as beautiful and bright as the sun she mused. The girl could definitely sense something different about him as she took in his apperance. She knew he was not like the youkais she have met so far and as much as she hated to admit it, he seemed like someone she could easily trust.

But she wasn't going to be fooled by his tricks-if there were any. She has learned that it's not easy to trust even the closest of family and friends. She continued to stare at him neutrally. He wasn't going to get her to trust him that easily.

"Take it. You must be really hungry. I know it's not much but you will have to deal with it." He said to her. Despite the complaints of her growling stomach the little girl turned away from him and the bread in his hand.

"Why did you save me? When you knew what I was...what I can possibly do to everyone. Why did you save me when I could have just died there and made everyone happy? If I'm gone, no one can get hurt, no one will cry and I would never be a burden to anyone. If I'm gone I...no one would care either way." Falkean widened his eyes in shock and the anger that he had buried deep within him came out again.

_This...this girl has matured so much because of what happened. All innocence and naiveness were gone from her face and was instead replaced with experience and pain. At such a young age she's capable of thinking about such complicated issues. Her mind is so much older than her body. And she thought about the welfare of others even after what they did to her...damn those people...damn them all._

"You're wrong." He told her with mastery and confidence in his voice, trying to convince the girl that he was right. She looked up at him and waited for him. Waited for him to continue and slowly pull her out of the dark quicksand that she had fallen in. "If you think people will stop crying, stop the pain from coming to them when you're gone...if you think for one second that the world would be better without you then you're wrong. Whether you die or not everything will still be the same. People will still die; still cry; still feel burdened by their lives and the people arond them; they would still hurt and get hurt. You will never make a difference in the world if you simply die." Falkean stood up and stared at the beautiful light blue sky, absorbing the sun's golden rays making him seem shinier and brighter. The little girl stared at his bright silhouette form and could have mistaken him for a diety who came down from the heavens to save her.

"It is when you live that you make a difference. Whether big or small, bad or good, it doesn't matter. You have a role in this world that you must fulfill. A purpose in life. Our borrowed lives should not be wasted by thinking of taking them away before they were even used. So you see little one, if you live, you can make people smile, you can remove the pain in them, you can become a help instead of a burden. If you have the will to move on no matter how down you are, you will see that things can turn out well. It is only when you push yourself foward that you can make a big difference for a better world."

"How am I going to do that...to make a better world...in the state I'm in right now?" The little girl asked, now looking at Falkean. The man smiled at her and once more handed the bread to her.

"By taking care of your own body first of all. Now eat it before I decide to make you eat the bread forcibly." The little girl quickly took hold of the bread and ate it quietly. Falkean smiled, knowing that he had finally gained a bit of trust from the girl. He sat down beside her and with his powers, made the robe and the bag fly towards his hand. The little girl gazed in wonder as she watched the items hover in mid air and knew that the man beside her was doing this. Other things ran through her mind as she watched Falkean take something from his bag.

"So did you heal my injuries with that same thing you're doing right now?" Falkean looked up in surprise and smiled with amusement at the young girl's sharp observation.

"Yes, it's a rare and ancient power only given to people who are worthy of it. It's called ancient magic by some but everyone decided to cut the ancient part and just called it magic. The people who practice this power are called Magicians. In order to weild such power a person must have great control and knowledge of his own strengths. It takes years for one to become a strong Magician. Then there is the Magician's Clan, the home for everything concerning magic. That is where we are headed now." He explained.

"Huh? Why?" Falkean chuckled at the confused expression on the little girl's face. After everything that she had been through, she still managed to preserve that innocent, naive and childish look that children her age always have on their faces when they didn't understand what adults were saying.

"For a smart girl, you're pretty slow. Perhaps it's humility and modesty that's keeping you from realizing it."

"Realizing what?"

"That you have the potential to become a magician. Not only a mere magician but a very strong magician. Your powers are very impressive, even if they are uncontrolled. Think of how much stronger it can become if someone trained those powers. And if you use those powers for others, I can assure you that you will never be considered a burden ever again. I will make certain of that as your guardian."

It was at these words that the little girl finally felt herself being pulled out of the darkness and into the light. She finally knew deep within her that this man will never leave her alone like the others have done. It was like an unspoken covenant between a child and her guardian. If she gave herself up in this man's service she knew she will not be disappointed with the results. He was her mentor. The man who will guide her through the hardships and challenges that life has to offer. Falkean saw a new flame lit up in the girl's eyes and smiled brighter if possible. Then he went back to whatever it was he was looking for in his bag.

"What is your name little one?" He asked as he searched through the items.

"Mitsuki. Mitsuki Irusawa." She answered, finishing the last of her bread.

"I see. My name's Falkean. Ah yes...here we are." Falkean took out a small bundle of cloth with some very slight reddish-brown stains on them. A few minutes of closer inspection later, Mitsuki realized that it was her old gown. The silver-blue haired girl looked down on herself and finally took notice of the large shirt on her that felljust below her knees.

"I took the liberty of cleaning up most of the blood. I have nothing else for you to wear, you see. We will have to get you a new bundle of clothes at the next town we go into." He mused to himself. He looked at her seconds later and handed her the gown. "Now hurry up and wear this on so we can reach the next town by night."

Mitsuki followed Falkean's instructions and went behind some bushes to change. Falkean continued sitting on the ground and was thinking of their future travels when he heard a soft voice call to him.

"Falkean?"

"Hm?" He turned around and found Mitsuki dressed up in her old gown. But what he noticed more was the contemplative mood reflected on the silver orbs of the little girl. "Something wrong?" He asked as she handed him the shirt. Mitsuki opened her mouth then closed it again as if having second thoughts. Then shaking her head she looked at him.

"When I have control of my powers, do you think...is there any chance...I can...I can go back to Tarleina and see everyone again?" Falkean gazed at her for a long time then turned away from her without a reply. Mitsuki frowned and was about to ask again when he looked back at her with a small, sad smile.

"I won't give you any false hope Mitsuki but the truth is, it entirely depends on you. If you do go back, there are some other complications. They might welcome you back, they might shun you out once more. It's too unclear as of now to predict how the youkais would react when you come back to them in the future. You are still considered a monster after all..."

"If that's what you think..." Mitsuki took a small ring from her right ring finger and placed it on her left palm. A small red gem fastened to a golden band blinked back at her. It was given to her by her parents on the day she was born. Only the royal family were given the ring signifying their power and control over the whole of Tarleina. She closed it in her palm and threw it as far as she could deep in the forest. They watched the golden glint fly through the branches before disappearing among the leaves. Falkean didn't react and merely watched her stare blankly at the distance.

"From the moment my sister and I were born, they had already known. They knew we were the children with the dreaded curse." She began, never turning her gaze from the landscape. "And because of that they treated us differently in the kingdom. The only person who treated us like everyone else was my father. He loved us both with or without the curse on us. But now that he's dead and everyone hates me, I have no reason to go back there. I have no friends, no family; no home to go back to in the end. I'll never set foot in that place ever again for as long as I live. Do you think that's mean of me?" She asked, looking at Falkean expectantly. Falkean gazed at her, smiled and shook his head.

"No. I don't think you're mean because you don't want to go back to a place where no one would accept you. Not at all. It's a reasonable explanation in fact." Falkean stood up from the ground and wore on his grey robe. Then he slung his bag over his shoulder and turned to her.

"Now that that's over, we better get a move on. It's not good to stay here toolong." He began to walk through a small path ahead of them in between the large trees of the forest. Mitsuki on the other hand continued to stand there and stared back at the direction where she threw her ring. With a final whisper of goodbye, she followed Falkean through the path, never looking back on the kingdom she was forced to call her home.

5 years later...

When a person usually looked at the Magician's Clan, one would see a lively city filled with both young and old youkais clad in robes walking through a small narrow path surrounded by beautiful, large, green and peaceful gardens. The buildings that stand in this city were built with beautiful and intricate designs. In a bird's eye view, one would see a sea of pure white. It would be considered a haven for most who lived in Kiyube, the home of the Magician's Clan. But this beautiful home for the past 2 years has been a target of destruction, chaos and death.

The Magicians were at war with a group of people who called themselves Dark Magicians, each member possessing the same powers as that of the Magicians. Each and every Dark Magician was born in Tarleina as a Child of Darkness. The leader, having had enough of the way they were being treated, decided to take matters into his own hands. He learned how to use magic at a young age and as he grew older, used it to destroy those who opposed him and his fellow 'siblings'. Their numbers were increasing by the day and this became a problem to the Magicians in the clan. For 2 painful years they have fought and killed one another. One to take over the world, the other to redeem it.

But it so happened that one fateful day, the remaining 7 Magicians in Makkai decided to end this meaningless war and save what was left of makkai. They charged head first into the Dark Magician's hideout and took out every member with everything they've got. They fought long and hard with the man who started it all and ended by using a rare and very ancient magic in which the 6 Magicians send their powers to one other to create an incredibly powerful atttack. Their attack directly hit the Dark Magician and destroyed the hideout. This marked the end of the Magician's War and supposedly, the end of all the Dark Magicians.

Everyone in Makkai rejoiced at this great news and awaited the arrival of the 7 great and corageous Magicians who had made peace possible. But they never came. It was said they disappeared as soon as the hideout crashed down, never to be seen again. Everyone had concluded that they died but some still had hopes of their survival and awaited their return. Because of the 7 Magicians' herioic deeds and their corageuous efforts, everyone decided to give them a proper title. A title that will forever be passed down from generation to generation, each one remembering the day they were all saved from the Dark Magicians. These 7 Magicians were to be called Sorcerers and Sorceress. The Warriors of Magic.


	2. Chapter 1

Author's Note: Well at least some people reviewed. I would like to thank you guys for doing so. I feel touched that you like my story. Here's the next chapter then. I hope you like it. And remember, any questions you would like to ask will be answered in the next chapter. Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho. I just own the original characters and the plot of the story.

**Chapter 1 - The Necklace in Ningenkai**

Years later...

A little girl, 5 years old to be exact, opened her eyes to reveal bright shining orbs of purple. The sun beamed down from a window beside the bed and showered the fiery red hair with a golden gleam. The little girl sat up from her small bed and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. The door opened, and an older woman entered. She smiled at the little girl and walked over to her to give her a hug.

"Good Morning my darling Seiki."

"Good morning mommy! Is breakfast ready?" She eagerly asked. The mother nodded and holding her small hand, led her from the room into another one with a wooden table at the center surrounded by wooden chairs. On the wooden table were plates of bread and butter with some bacon and a glass of milk. Little Seiki rushed to one of the chairs and sat down while the mother slowly walked to another. At this time the door from outside opened, revealing a rugged and dirty young man. The two females looked at him and smiled.

"Come on dear, breakfast is ready."

"Daddy has to wash up first because he's so dirty!" Seiki cried happily, pointing at his dirty clothes. The man grinned at the little girl and walked further into another room where he washed up. He came back out nice and clean and sat down with the two girls on the table. Then together, they began to eat breakfast. During the meal the older woman turned to her husband, her face filled with worry and concern. The man noticed this and frowned but didn't bother speaking. He knew what the wife was thinking.

"What's happening in town Tonaru?" The woman asked him. The man took bites of his breakfast before looking at her again with an equally worried face. They didn't need to worry about the little girl overhearing their conversation since she was busy with her meal then.

"Honestly, things are not looking good. The town's being further controlled by those damn foreign weirdos. Now I heard from the neighbors that they're forcefully recruiting new and fresh blood." The confused expression on the woman's face made his even grimer. "They're getting them Hikaru. Every single one that exists in Tarleina." Hikaru's eyes widened in shock as realization hit her. She violently shook her head at him, tears slowly falling from her orbs. Tonaru could do nothing but stare sadly at his wife.

"We can't let them take Seiki! Please don't let them take her away from us Tonaru." She wailed. At the sound of her name the little red head looked up from her meal and frowned at her tear-strained mother.

"What's wrong okasan? What are you talking about?" The two adults were both startled by the soft voice that had spoken up. They had become too engrossed in the conversation that they had forgotten the little girl sitting right by them. Hikaru quickly wiped the tears from her eyes and forced a smile at Seiki.

"Nothing dear. Are you done eating?"

"Uh-huh!"

"Then go on and play outside. It's such a wonderful day today." Seiki smiled and nodded as she hopped from her chair and walked outside into the small garden they had. Hikaru watched her daughter leave and could hear her playing outside. This only caused more tears to sprout from her eyes.

"Can we do nothing to keep her from them? I don't want her to fall into their devious plot. I don't want her to become..." Tonaru at this point moved closer to Hikaru and placed a comforting arm around her, embracing her tight as she sobbed and choked with tears.

"Don't worry Hikaru. I've got everything planned already. Someone will come and take her away from here any minute now. I trust her and her ability in keeping little Seiki safe from harm. She told me Ningenkai's a good place to be in now. They'll stay there and hide until we can find a way to follow them. Then once we've conquered that obstacle nothing will stop us from becoming a happy family again, I promise." Hikaru smiled and nodded in agreement, having nothing else to say. She trusts Tonaru and she knew he was doing everything for their safety. At that moment, little Seiki entered and tugged the sleeve of her father.

"There's someone outside looking for you, daddy." She said. Tonaru looked up at Hikaru and nodded, standing up from the table and walking outside to meet the visitor. He met a woman with long-below the shoulder length, light brown hair and bluegreen eyes who was standing at the entrance in a long and dark cloak, watching it create a small wave beneath her feet as a breeze brushed past them. As he walked towards her he recalled their meeting at the village inn just a few days ago. He knew she was a traveler and he had a feeling that she could help them with their problem. When he spoke with her, Tonaru was glad to hear her plans of going to Ningenkai. He asked her to take Seiki along and the woman reluctantly agreed.

"Is everything ready?" The mysterious woman asked, her voice soft and tense. She glanced around her before looking back at the man in front of her. Tonaru shook his head before answering the woman. "Give us a minute to prepare her things." The woman frowned disapprovingly at this.

"I'll wait at the entrance then. Don't keep me waiting. It's not good to stay here any longer I'm afraid. They have grown suspicious of me and are looking for me even as we speak."

"We'll be there." The woman gave a curt nod before turning around and walking off towards the gates of Tarleina. Tonaru watched the dark clothed figure disappear and hurried back inside to see how he could help quicken the packing.

switch scene

The mysterious woman stopped a few yards from the entrance, hiding behind a tree from searching eyes. She leaned on the trunk and watched some of the guards she saw earlier run around the village, probably looking for her. She sighed and looked up at the sky, giving herself a few minutes of rest. Ever since her mentor's death she has been doing nothing but wandering around Makkai and it was beginning to become tiring for her. As she stood there, she recalled the last request her mentor gave her right before he was killed a year ago.

_She went out for a walk then, and she came back to the small hut she owned bringing with her the groceries only to find her mentor beaten down to the ground. There were no signs of blood but it was evident from his pained expression that he was attacked. He was weak, old, and couldn't defend himself from anyone who would attack him. She cursed herself for leaving him behind, knowing that he was such an obvious target practice for youkais._

_"Lord Ronel!" She rushed to her mentor's aid and layed down his head on her lap. Ronel's eyes were dull, the light in them slowly fading away. "Stay with me Lord Ronel! I'm going to heal you. Everything's going to be alright." A shaking hand on hers made her stop and look at the calm grey eyes._

_"It's too late Tenerie. My injuries are too great for your skills to handle. It's my time to go." Tenerie shook her head violently, small tears forming in her bluegreen eyes._

_"You can't leave me! I don't know what to do if you're gone. Lord Ronel, please, don't die on me. I'll look for someone who can heal you. There has to be someone close by." Despite his situation, Ronel was still capable of forming a smile on his face._

_"Leave an old man to rest. My time is over. There is a new generation of magicians rising from the ashes even as we speak. I want you to follow them and make something out of yourself. Don't grieve over me, you must move on and fight for what is right." Tenerie looked at him in silence. She couldn't understand what she was going to fight for yet. But she trusted Lord Ronel and she kept a silent promise to herself that she will accomplish his last wish no matter what it took._

_"Tell me, what should I do Lord Ronel?"_

_"Look for someone named Derea and give this to her." He handed to her a letter that he kept in his pocket. She took it from him and held it in her arms as if she might lose it if she didn't. "Tell her it came from her favortie, old partner in crime. While you're doing that I want you to look for a necklace with a small purple gem hanging on it. It's very important to me. Whatever you do, never talk about this to anyone else. There are many things with eyes and ears so be very cautious of what you do and say." Tenerie merely nodded and held his hand with her free one. She didn't understand why she had to do these things and she had a feeling she wasn't going to get the answers to her question anytime soon._

_"Lord Ronel...isn't there some way I can convince you to stay?" Ronel shook his head, his breaths becoming shallow and quick._

_"I'm afraid not my dear. I have made up my mind and nothing shall make me change it. I have done everything in my power to make a better world and I feel like I've accomplished that. I do not wish for anything more. Tenerie, you have been the best thing in my life after so many years. Move on and make me proud." Ronel slowly closed his eyes as he gave out his last breath. "Take care..."_

A drop of water on her cheek brought her back to the present. Tenerie quickly wiped the tears away and immediately saw Tonaru walking towards her direction with the small red haired girl in hand. She stopped leaning on the tree and nodded to Tonaru. "Ready now?" The other man held up a hand, signaling the woman to wait. Once Tenerie gave her approval Tonaru crouched in front of the little girl and held her shoulders.

"Seiki listen to me." He said as he handed the little girl a small bundle of her clothes. "You're going to go on a very long journey with this young lady here. We might not see each other for a while but you know that we love you so much don't you?" Seiki pouted.

"But I want to stay with you and mommy!" Tonaru gave a sad smile and hugged Seiki tight.

"I'm sorry Seiki. I promise we'll catch up with you when we can. For now I want you to follow her and do everything she asks you to. Do you promise to be a good girl while your mommy and I aren't there?" Seiki nodded, still pouting sadly. The father stood up and nodded to Tenerie.

"Please take good care of her."

"Don't worry. I will." Tenerie held Seiki's hands as Tonaru turned around and began walking back into the village. The little girl could feel tears streaming down her face yet she made no move to wipe them. All she did was stare sadly at her father as she saw him walk away from them.

switch scene

Konema had his share of good days and his bad days. Today seemed like one of those really bad days. His desk was pilled high with bundles of papers made up of reports from his spies in Makkai. Reports said that there were rumors circulating among the youkais of the whereabouts of the powerful sorcerer's necklace that was left in Makkai by one of the Sorcerers. Now almost the whole of Makkai was looking for it, desiring to gain its power and use it to control the youkai world. That was not a good sign for him. And whenever there was a bad sign, he called for his Spirit Detective and his teammates to investigate on the problem. He only had to wait for a few hours when one sleepy detective and one cheerful grim reaper arrived in his office that afternoon.

"It's about time you arrived here. We are having a very serious crisis that needs to be looked upon. You can explain this to the others later when you begin the investigation." Konema explained to him. The boy merely yawned and stared at him with dull brown eyes. His gelled black hair shined as he moved and clearly showed the ruler that he was very bored.

"Yeah yeah just get on with it Konema. Tell me what's the problem this time." He said with another yawn. Konema glared at him and was tempted to scold him but decided against it. Time was not on their side and he needed all the time he had if they were going to make things right. He took a deep breath and began explaining to the spirit detective his newest mission.

"You and the others are to go to Ningenkai and look for a necklace that a Sorcerer owned." He handed him a picture of a simple silver chained necklace with a small purple gem hanging from it. Inside the gem was a swirl of silver cotton-like clouds. "We don't know what kind of power it contains but whatever it is, it would most likely be powerful. It is a Sorcerer's after all. If a youkai gets his hands on it, it could disrupt the balance of the three worlds." He said. "The latest rumors in Makkai tells us that the necklace will be found in Ningenkai. You are to find the item before any other youkais do and take it back here in Rekai." The detective looked at the picture with a confused expression on his face.

"Uh...Konema...what's so important about a sorcerer's necklace? Sorcerers are just some freaks who do cheap tricks to get fame and fortune aren't they? What does the spirit world have to do with them? Or are Magicians, Witches, Sorcerers-or whatever you call them-youkais as well?" The blue haired grim reaper sighed and shook her head at him.

"They're not the usual Magicians and Sorcerers in Earth Yusuke. They are youkais with ancient powers that we call magic. Their powers are real and they're really strong too. Only people who prove themselves worthy can learn how to use magic and be called Magicians. The 7 Sorcerers and Sorceress on the other hand only came about 8 years ago during the Magician's War when the rest of the Magicians were literally wiped out. These were the same group who attacked the enemy and saved everyone from destruction." She explained to him. Yusuke was having a hard time quickly grasping what the grim reaper was saying that he had to massage his forehead.

"So let me get this straight; Magicians are worthy youkais who are taught 'magic'. Then when they were wiped out in the 'Magician's War' Sorcerers came, fought in the Magician's War and saved everyone's butts right?" He said. The grim reaper shook her head again.

"The Sorcerers were the Magicians. They were only called Sorcerers when they had saved everyone from the Dark Magicians." The grim reaper realized what she said, blinked and smiled nervously at Yusuke who had glared angrily at her.

"Ooops...I guess I forgot to mention them. Dark Magicians were another group of youkais who weilded magic powers equal to that of the Magicians. They wanted to control the three worlds and destroyed everything that came in their way. Since they were stronger than normal youkais, only the Magicians had the power to stop them. But during the war, the Dark Magicians kept growing in number and were beating the Magicians badly. Not only did they consist of Dark Magicians, they also consisted of those youkais who wanted control over the three worlds as well. They killed every single magician they met and almost wiped them out of existence. But somehow the 7 remaining Magicians defeated all of them and wiped them out entirely. That's how they got the title Sorcerers and Sorceress. Now do you understand?" She asked, looking at the black haired detective. Yusuke scratched the back of his head and frowned.

"Geez Botan it was like going through my boring history class all over again. Did you really have to put me though that kind of torture?" Botan glared at him and was about to open her mouth when Konema coughed and got their attention back.

"Well now that Botan has given you a summary of the history of the Magician's War, I guess you're ready to do this mission. Right Yusuke?" He asked. The detective thought it over then looked at him expectantly.

"You're going to give me a clue or something to the whereabouts of this item...aren't you Konema?" The spirit ruler looked down on his desk and shook his head sadly. This made Yusuke's eyes widen in shock and disbelief. "No clues! How the hell am I supposed to find the stupid necklace if I don't have any idea where it is? And why the hell are we believing this rumor crap in the first place! It could just be a stupid lie some dumb youkai made to get attention!" He cried, raising his hands up in anger.

"Yusuke, whether the rumors are true or not this is your mission. Nothing will be lost if we found out this is all a hoax but a lot will be if it turned out to be true. It's easier compared to the last mission I gave you so you should have no problem with it. I trust you to find the necklace without any unnecessary trouble." Yusuke winced as he recalled the last mission Konema sent them to. He had to admit; this seemed easier than the normal ones he went through.

_But then again Konema never gives out easy missions does he?..._

"Alright alright I'll do it. But I have a bad feeling it's not going to be as easy as simply getting it for you." He said as he hid the picture in his pocket and followed Botan out of the office. Konema watched them disappear through the doors and slouched in his large chair as soon as they were gone.

Today was definitely a bad day for Konema.

switch scene

"So we're supposed to look for this necklace in the human world?" A man with tall fiery red hair asked Yusuke as he glanced at the picture the detective handed to him. Yusuke nodded in reply and gave another loud yawn. They, together with Botan, were standing right outside the arcade where Yusuke and Botan found the red head hanging out with his bunch of friends.

"That's right. The baby said we have to find it before anyone else does. He says it's a powerful necklace that will destroy the world if placed in a youkai's hands." Yusuke said.

"He said it would disrupt the balance, not destroy the world." Botan reminded him. Yusuke casually shrugged.

"Disrupt, destroy, either way it's still going to get bad around here."

"It doesn't look that important or that powerful to me." The red head said, still looking at the picture. "Why does Konema want a necklace?" Botan began retelling the red head what she told Yusuke back in the office. It took longer for him to digest what she said but somehow after repeating it to him over and over again, and whacking him on the head with her oar, he seemed to understand what was going on.

"We better start looking for that necklace if we don't want those youkais to get it first." The red head said, giving back the picture to the detective. "Ningenkai's a big place after all and it could be anywhere." Yusuke growled and crossed his arms.

_We know that dumbass! Darn that Konema. The least he could have done was give us a specific location or a part of Ningenkai where this necklace could probably be at. We have absolutely no idea where to start! Hiei's probably out somewhere being his usual grumpy, selfish and arrogant self. He's never going to help us if it won't be beneficial to him. But where's that darn kitsune when you need him?_

"If Kurama was here, we could have probably found the necklace in a snap." The red head mused as if reading Yusuke's mind. Yusuke thought he was just exaggerating and rolled his eyes. Either youkai would have found the item, but not as easily as Kuwabara thought. "Do you think Kurama's still at his school?" Kuwabara asked them both. Botan looked thoughtful at his suggestion.

"We can look there first. Then when he's not at school we can check his home." Botan told them. Yusuke shook his head and pointed at her.

"No. You go on and look for him while Kuwabara and I start looking for the item. You can search faster with your oar and that way, we wouldn't be wasting any time. We don't need to use up the time looking for Kurama when we could start searching for that necklace." He said. Botan nodded to him and, taking out her oar from nowhere, began to fly up in the air towards the direction of Kurama's school. When Botan was out of sight, Yusuke turned to Kuwabara.

"Let's split up to make the search faster. You go that way while I go this way. We can meet at the park after 1 hour whether one of us found it or not." Kuwabara agreed and began running through the direction Yusuke pointed. Then Yusuke himself began jogging through the other direction, having absolutely no idea on how to look for the necklace Konema was asking for. As he jogged, he gave out a weary sigh.

_This is going to be a looooong day..._

switch scene

Tenerie and Seiki walked out from a portal that appeared out of nowhere into a dark alleyway of Ningenkai. Outside it was late in the afternoon. The sun was beginning to set and it was becoming darker by the minute. The older woman looked around her and motioned for Seiki to follow. The little girl silently followed and watched the former look around the vicinity.

"What are you looking for?"

"A place to stay." Was the quick reply. Seiki said nothing more as they continued to walk past multiples of houses, stores and apartments. At last they stopped in front of a small, old looking house with one of those "Rent-a-room" signs hanging in front of the door. Tenerie walked inside first with Seiki following right behind. A man walked up to them and welcomed them in.

"How can I help two beautiful ladies such as yourselves?" He asked them. Tenerie took some wad of bills from her pocket and handed it to the man.

"We want a room for at least 1 week. If we need to stay longer I'll let you know. Is that alright?" The man took the money from her and counted the bills carefully. Then he folded them, smiling at Tenerie.

"Of course, of course. Right this way ladies, right this way." The man eagerly went up the stairs towards one of the rooms situated there before Tenerie could reply or decide to change her mind. He opened the door and let Tenerie and Seiki in first before coming in himself. "The room might not look luxurious but you will feel comfortable living in our rooms. If you have any questions or if you need anything, feel free to call me." And with that, he closed the door and left.

Seiki slowly looked around the room and wasn't too happy about it. It was practically empty except for two small beds, a bathroom door to the right and a large empty dusty old closet at the opposite end of the room. Tenerie walked towards the windows and shut the curtains, filling the room with darkness and leaving a light bulb in the ceiling of the room the only source of light. After doing this she kneeled in front of Seiki and patted her head.

"I have to do something right now so I want you to stay here. I don't want to come back here and find out you've gotten yourself into trouble. Is that clear?" Seiki looked at her in confusion. It seemed like everyone in the world was leaving her off somewhere and telling her to stay and be a good girl while they were gone.

"What are you going to do?" She asked.

"I'm going to look for something. I can't talk about it right now though. You'll understand someday. Now stay and be a good girl okay? I'll be back in a few minutes." Tenerie gave a small smile to her before leaving the room. Now Seiki was left all alone in the darkness. Somehow despite what the older woman said Seiki felt the need to get away from the room.

_It will only be a walk outside...I won't go off too far._

With that last thought in mind, she walked towards the door and left the cold and dark room.


	3. Chapter 2

Author's Note: Thanks to the people who reviewed the first few chapters. I know it's not that interesting yet but I promise to update asap. I'm in my third year after all and I'm so busy with school and stuff that I barely have time to make the story. Anyways, to answer lunardestiny's question, Tenerie is not Mitsuki Irusawa. I can't tell you anything more about it or I'll spoil the story to you guys. Hope that answers it. And now, on with the story!

**Chapter 2 - Let the Chase, Begin!**

Kurama's school had been dismissed hours ago but the kitsune found himself still inside the class laboratory, doing a late project with a few of his other classmates. He held a glass beaker in one hand and was about to put a few drops of some chemical into it with the other when a student came in and called his name.

"Yo Shuichi! Some chick's looking for you outside the school building. Got a date or something? Didn't know you had it in you buddy. Some hot chick you chose." He said teasingly. The other students in the lab began to cheer and root for the kitsune jokingly. Kurama blinked in confusion as he placed the laboratory instruments down on the table.

_That's odd...I'm not supposed to meet anyone outside the school today. Could it be Keiko? Botan? Shizuru? Yukina? Or could it be entirely someone else?_

Kurama walked towards the window and peered down at the entrance, trying to find the person who was looking for him. As soon as he opened the window and looked out, a blast of strange energy brushed past him, almost pushing him back by force. He stepped back and stared down at the ground with wide emerald eyes. His heightened sense of smell easily caught the scent of youkai from a young woman near the entrance. Immediately he knew the woman wasn't ordinary. Although the woman had ordinary long light brown hair and bluegreen eyes, she stood out with the amazing power that was emitting from her. Her pale, smooth skin also shone out among the other students outside the building, giving her a lot more attention than she needed.

_It looks like she isn't such a strong opponent to face, seeing her stand there foolishly with such strong energy. If we were in Makkai she would have been dead hours ago..but this is such a strange energy I'm sensing...what kind of power does she have? It's nothing I've ever felt before._

Not wanting to seem disturbed or worried at this predicament, Kurama smiled at the student who had given the message and turned to his other classmates. He was going to have to confront her somewhere less public.

"Do you guys mind if I leave early? It might be something important."

"Go on loverboy! We can handle the rest without you."

Kurama chuckled and shook his head at their senseless teasing. With another wave, he took his school bag and began walking out of the laboratory. He jogged through the hall, down the stairs, past other students who were lounging around out the door and into the open air. He caught sight of the same strange light brown haired woman standing right by the entrance gate, ignoring all the stares of the male students. When she saw him she motioned for him to follow her and began to walk away. Kurama had to run to catch up to her disappearing form which was headed for a dark, abandoned alleyway not far from the school.

He casually went through the alley and followed the smaller youkai who was walking ahead. From either side of him, garbage cans and crates of junk lay carelessly against the cold, dirty walls of the alley. He grimaced as he accidentally stepped on a pile of leftovers from the restaurant nearby and quickly wiped it on dry ground. After a few more steps deeper into the alleyway they reached the end of it and stopped. Kurama stood a few meters in front of her in silence, waiting for the woman to speak first. Bluegreen stared at emerald eyes for a few minutes until the young woman gave a sigh and broke the eye contact first.

"Yokou Kurama, I presume?" She asked him calmly. As unimpressive as her skills in hiding her energy signature were, she didn't sound like the weak person her powers proved to be. Not to mention she knew who he was and where he would be. Kurama's body tensed, as if warning him not to get caught off-guard by this mysterious woman.

"And who might you be?" Kurama replied in an equally cool tone. The woman looked around the whole alley before turning back to face him. It was as if she was afraid that someone might overhear them. Emerald eyes slowly but carefully glanced around the area as well and strangely sensed nothing unnatural near them.

_Who in the world could be eavesdropping at us and why?_

"My name is Tenerie and I am what you would call a magician." She said. Kurama's eyes widened in shock. The last time he heard of those youkais was many years ago during the Magician's War. And from what he knew, they were supposed to be extinct. He was about to ask her this question when she held up a hand. She had an idea of what his reaction will be, knowing the history of that horrible past, and was prepared to answer it.

"As you know, the Sorcerers and Sorceress weren't officially dead. There were only rumors and false assumptions about the issue. The truth is, one of the Sorcerers found me and decided to make me a Magician. It's as simple as that. But the problem is..." Tenerie at this point began to feel her eyes water. She closed them and paused to hold back her emotions.

_Don't cry! It's not the time for that. Remember, you still have a mission to do for Lord Ronel. Once you find Derea and the necklace, you can cry your heart out all you want._ With this thought in mind, Tenerie took a deep breath before looking back at Kurama and continuing. Trying as much as she could to push away the images running through her mind.

"He died a year ago, killed while I was out of the house getting groceries." Kurama decided to interrupt her all of a sudden with a question that had popped into his mind.

"Your mentor was a Sorcerer, whether or not we take his age into consideration. He was a strong youkai who possessed incredible powers that defeated an army of Dark Magicians and youkais. How is it possible for him to be killed then? Any youkai he faced would be easily defeated with his powers. No one could kill a Magician let alone a Sorcerer that quickly unless the person is..." Tenerie knew where the discussion was going and shook her head in disagreement.

"Have you not heard of the history? All the dark magicians were killed during the war. It's impossible for one to have survived their attack. Not only that, the Sorcerers and Sorceress did not put up a school for young novices after what happened. No child of darkness could have learned how to use magic."

"I know the history and I agree with you. But we are not sure if the dark magicians really are gone. The possibility of a dark magician living among us is still probable. Either that or...there is a new and far more powerful adversary that the world will be facing in the future." Kurama ended. Tenerie trembled slightly at the thought. She looked up at the sky and closed her eyes.

_Was that what you meant when you said I should fight for what is right? Were you telling me that a new opponent is coming? Or maybe an old one will rise from the ashes again?_

She opened her bluegreen eyes again, having obviously gotten no answer from the sky, and turned back her gaze to Kurama. " Right before he died, he told me to look for a purple necklace that he said was important to him. I don't know what it's for but I have a feeling it will lead me closer to the answers to my questions. And so I've been searching for this necklace ever since he died and finally found out from a reliable source that it's somewhere here in Ningenkai." She explained, excluding her other mission to find a woman named Derea. That will have to come in another time. For now, the necklace was her priority.

"And you want me to help you look for it." Was Kurama's reply as he began to understand Tenerie's purpose of looking for him. Tenerie nodded and looked around again, just to make sure no one was eavesdropping on them or planned to suddenly attack them while they weren't looking.

"Yes, that's exactly what I need from you Kurama. But there is another problem. There are other youkais looking for the necklace as well and they have been slowing me down ever since I left to look for it. If you agree to helping me, they might attack you as well. I am asking for your help but I will not force you to do something you don't want and bring you towards danger at the same time. So will you willingly help me?" She asked, looking at him with hopeful eyes. Kurama looked back at her and pondered on what she just said.

_Hm...looking for a necklace might not be that hard...but as she mentioned, it is a bit too dangerous. I will be dealing with dark magicians or worse, even stronger entities. If I agree to helping her look, I would be putting myself-and everyone I care about-in great danger. And it doesn't help with the fact that her powers are too unhidden for my comfort...but I am quite curious about this certain necklace._

"I will help you out." Kurama answered after a moment's pause. "But I will search for the necklace alone. It seems you haven't learned how to hide your energy and so it's radiating from you very strongly. I suggest you stay as hidden as you can and wait for me while I look for this necklace." He added before Tenerie could reply. The woman closed her mouth and frowned, looking at the wall in deep thought.

_He's right. I have to hide my powers so other youkais would find it harder to find me. But I wasn't taught how to keep my energy hidden. I was Lord Ronel's novice for only less than a year after all. I guess I will really have to depend on him. Hopefully things will go smoothly from here. Lord Ronel, I hope you're up there, watching over me._ Tenerie gave a heavy sigh and looked back at Kurama.

"Alright. I agree to your condition."

switch scene

Seiki stared around the place with curious purple eyes. She had never been outside her own village and was excited to explore a new world. She walked slowly, looking at the small stores and houses that she passed by. She watched people as they went off about their business and ignored her presence. She looked at all the ningens, fascinated with them, their culture and everything about them. Never did she spot a human with big fluffy ears or long, sharp fangs. They all looked the same to her. She might have a similar appearance as that of a ningen but she knew she was a youkai. These people probably didn't even know youkais existed.

"THIEF! Get back here with my burger you damn bitch!" A man shouted, bringing Seiki back from her thoughts. The little girl felt herself being moved forcefully to the side as a taller, older woman with long raven black hair ran past her, carrying a burger in hand. Seiki turned around to find a portly, red faced man shaking his fist in the air in anger and trying as much as he could to follow the quick thief in the sea of ningens. The burger vendor, a thin young teenager, merely stood Where he was, blinking in shock and staring at his hand where the thief had stolen from without his knowing it. Seiki frowned and decided to follow the young theif.

_A theif is bad, whether it's a youkai or ningen._

She followed the thief's tracks as long as she could and found herself walking to an alley to the side as she caught sight of the woman's black hair. She turned around the same corner and stopped to look straight at the path in front of her which led into the darkness within. The walls loomed over her head, making her feel even smaller than she already felt. She walked a few hesitant steps foward and, sensing the creepy chills in the air, began to feel frightened. Deciding to go back and forget about the thief, Seiki turned around only to find her way out blocked by three men. One of them walked towards her and couched down to face her.

"Well, well, well. What's a cute little girl like you doing here? Where are your parents? Are you lost or something?" He asked sweetly. Seiki didn't like the three men and took one step back, the whole time staring at the man in front of her and never answering him. "What's wrong? Couldn't answer? Why don't you come with us so we can take you to your parents?"

"You can't take me to my parents. They're not here in ningenkai." She answered back as bravely as she could. The man blinked in confusion while his two companions began to chuckle.

"Not in ningenkai? What are you, an alien or something? Come on here and you won't get hurt, I promise." The man reached out his hand to hold her but Seiki stepped back as quick as she could. His friends immediately rushed after her and held her down to the ground before she could do anything else. They held her arms and pinned her short legs with theirs. Seiki tried to move her limbs but the men were too strong for her.

"Let me go!"

"Hold still kid! Stop moving! If you don't stay still we'll rip your legs out!" One of the men shouted as they struggled with Seiki. She began to cry, all the while attempting to kick and punch the men as much as she could. She knew she was too weak to defend herself from three grown up men but she was afraid and instinct had kicked in. She didn't know what to do anymore and began to shout for help. She didn't care who came to help her as long as they won't do anything to her and just leave her alone. All of a sudden, she watched a foot fly up towards one of the men's chin, sending him falling backwards to the ground. His friends stopped struggling with Seiki and looked up at the person who interrupted them.

"Who do you think you are missy, kicking our friend and interrupting us!" Seiki sat up, wiping the tears from her eyes, and looked over her shoulder to find the same raven haired woman she was chasing standing deep in the darkness of the alley. She couldn't see her clearly but she remembered the outline of her body vividly. The thief walked into the light, revealing herself to the men and casually crossed her arms at them.

"You three idiots were making so much noise that I lost my appetite. I can't stand watching desperate men go for young kids just because everyone else-even the dumber whores-rejected them." This angered the three and they stood up to lunge at the thief. But she didn't even need to move from her spot. Before they reached her a black wolf jumped from the shadows and bit the leg of one of the thugs. He screamed in pain and tried to pry the fangs from his leg while his two friends ran away in fear.

"You won't get away with this bitch! We'll be back." The last man shouted, finally pushing the wolf away and following his friends out the alley. Seiki gave a soft sigh of relief as soon as they were gone and began to stand up from the ground. She brushed the dirt from her clothes while she looked at the thief who was crouched down on the ground, petting the black wolf on the head.

"Thank you for saving me."

"Why did you follow me?" The thief asked coldly, ignoring the former's grattitude, while standing up and looking down at her in slight anger. Seiki looked down in embarrassment, partly wondering how the woman found out she was following her. When she was looking for the thief, all she thought was how wrong and evil it was. Now that she faced the woman, she had no idea what to say to her.

"Well, you see, you stole a burger from that man a while ago."

"So?"

"Stealing is wrong."

"Look kid, it's none of your business but if you must know, everyone steals something from time to time. If I don't steal, I won't live for long. That man was an obnoxious, fat jerk and he deserved a burger to be taken away from him. Get it?" Seiki was very confused by her words and just stared at her.

"Uh..."

"Now get lost and leave me to myself before I decide to bring you back to those idiots." She said. Seiki didn't reply to her and immediately began walking out. She didn't know whether the thief was lying about giving her to the three thugs but she didn't want to take any chances. She stopped at the entrance of the alley and looked around. None of the houses looked familiar to her and she had forgotten from which direction she came from. The thief had walked beside her now, the black wolf probably running off somewhere else, and gave a soft sigh.

"Kids...how annoying." She muttered before walking off across the street. Seiki had no choice but to follow the mysterious thief as she swerved past men and women. The thief continued walking, never stopping to look back and see if Seiki was following. Now that Seiki thought about it, the thief never mentioned that she was taking her back, nor did the thief know where she was staying. She wondered if she was even heading for the right direction to the innor if she was just getting herself even more lost in ningenkai.

All her thoughts were interrupted when a beautiful golden brown falcon landed on her head for a second before flying off. Seiki looked up in surprise and felt even more surprised when she saw the familiar rooftop of the old inn. She looked ahead of her and saw that the thief had disappeared in the sea of people. A lot of thoughts crossed her mind but since she was still a child, these thoughts were not dwelled upon for long. She entered the inn and found that Tenerie was still out. And so her day ends with her sitting on the bed, waiting for her caretaker to come back.

switch scene

Kuwabara grumbled to himself as he sat down on the swing at the park and watched Yusuke pace back and forth in deep concentration with boredom. They had searched as much as they could in the 1 hour provided by the detective but found no leads to the necklace they were seeking. It was virtually impossible to find a simple necklace, in a big world, with absolutely no idea of its whereabouts. Botan came around that time and landed on the ground gracefully.

"Where's Kurama?" Yusuke asked her, never stopping to look at her or to take notice of her. Kuwabara sat up straighter and wished with all his might that the grim reaper came with good news. Botan smiled apologetically even if the detective couldn't see it and answered with an answer that she knew Yusuke wouldn't like.

"Sorry Yusuke. His classmates told me he went off with a girl somewhere and his mother said he wasn't home yet." At this Yusuke cursed to himself. Not only were they getting nowhere in the search, Kurama wasn't there to help them out too.

_Great. This missionkeeps getting better and better._

Kuwabara sighed heavily and stood up from the swing. Then he checked his wristwatch and looked back at Yusuke. "It's getting late Urameshi and Shizuru's probably getting worried. Maybe we should just call it a day and look for the necklace tomorrow together with Kurama." Botan merely nodded in agreement. Yusuke looked at his friends and sighed as well.

_I guess he's right. But I don't want to waste my weekend looking for a stupid necklace for the toddler..._

"What are you three doing here in the park? It's getting late and shouldn't you two be at home doing your homework by now?" A female voice asked both of the men. Yusuke, Kuwabara and Botan turned towards the source of the voice and saw a brown haired brown eyed female in a student's uniform standing a few yards away from them.

"Hey Keiko. Konema has another mission for us and we just took a break from it." Yusuke explained. Kuwabara on the other hand was too busy staring hypnotically at Keiko to speak up. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped in shock. Keiko noticed this and couldn't speak from the shock she was experiencing. Botan was glaring at him and was about to hit him with her oar when Yusuke growled at Kuwabara and smashed his clenched fist on the ningen's head first. It was obvious the three had misinterpreted Kuwabara's actions.

"Stop staring at her you big perverted idiot!" Yusuke yelled at him. Kuwabara fell down to the ground but immediately went back up and angrily took Yusuke by the collar of his shirt. His head was throbbing in pain but he had to ignore that for the moment. He had found something more important.

"I wasn't staring at your girlfriend like that baka! Take a look at this." He quickly reached out towards Keiko to get something, still holding onto Yusuke's shirt collar. Keiko was about to scream when Kuwabara pulled something from her neck and shoved it at the detective's face. Botan opened her mouth to yell at Kuwabara as well when she stopped and realized what he had taken.

"What the hell are you doing Kuwabara?" Yusuke cried.

"Just take a look at this!" Kuwabara practically screamed. Yusuke obliged, still having no idea at what Kuwabara was thinking, and watched a familiar, beautiful, small purple gem twirl beneath the silver chain. His eyes widened as what he saw slowly registered in his mind. Kuwabara smiled triumphantly, glad that he had finally gotten Yusuke's full attention.

"This is it isn't it Urameshi? This is the thing we've been looking for."

switch scene

While Yusuke and the others were having this little amusing scene, a mysterious girl stayed hidden in the shadows of a large tree, a few meters away from them. It was already dark, but the girl could still see the group and watched them converse with each other. A smile came upon her red lips as the eyes caught the moonlight's reflection of a familiar looking silver necklace. She was about to move away from the tree when a golden brown falcon suddenly flew towards her and perched upon her shoulder. It tugged at a lock of her raven black hair, catching her attention, before opening its beak to speak.

"What other troubles are you brewing this time?" It asked her in a suspicious tone. The woman turned to the falcon with a indignant look on her face.

"Nothing! What makes you think I'm causing trouble? I'm just standing here, minding my own business, until you arrived and ruined my peace and quiet." She argued.

"Well that is how you usually start your antics."

"For your information, I don't cause trouble nor do I look for it. Instead, trouble finds its way to me no matter where I am. It's not my fault all the people I meet are such tactless assholes." The falcon sighed and shook its tiny head wondering to himself-as he always did-how on earth he ended up going with this agressive, mischievious woman. The raven haired woman ignored him and went back to watching the group.

"If you're not making mischief what are you still doing here then? It's getting late and we should get back home as soon as possible." The falcon told her, its voice low but calm and gentle. The mysterious girl answered but didn't turn to look at the bird, her eyes still focused on the necklace in the ningen's hand.

"We're not going back...yet. There is something I need to do first." The falcon would have raised its eyebrows if it had one. It stayed silent, looking at where the woman was looking and made a small noise which sounded like a mix of a gasp and a squawk. The woman chuckled at the weird sound her falcon had made.

"Is that...what I think it is?" It asked in a soft whisper. The smile on the woman's lips grew wider as she climbed up the tree and crouched on one of the trees' stronger branches. The falcon guessed the silence was an answer in the affirmative and asked his next question. "Who are those people and how did they end up with the necklace?"

"They're Konema's spirit detectives. I saw the blue haired girl once together with the toddler on one of my journeys to the Spirit World. And as to how they got that necklace, well it was merely a coincidence that it ended up with that ningen woman. It looks like the rumors have reached the higher authorities and now the prince is ordering his men to look for the necklace as well." The falcon sensed the woman's muscles tense as she prepared herself for the jump. He flew away from her shoulders and landed softly right beside her to avoid being caught in the middle of it all.

"I know what you're thinking and I know what you're planning to do. All I want you to know is that you must not hurt these ningens no matter what. We do not need to make a scene and attract any kind of attention, especially the spirit ruler's." He reminded her. The woman turned to her falcon and gave him an innocent smile. Her eyes, though, were twinkling brightly with mischief and excitement and that was what worried the falcon the most.

"Oh don't worry Fal...I'll be very careful." And with that, she jumped off in the deep silence and headed straight for the group, unseen by the naked eye.

scwitch scene

"Now do you believe me? I saw this on Keiko's neck and realized it was the one we've been looking for!" Kuwabara explained. Yusuke was still staring at the item in silence. He didn't know what to say. They have been looking all over Ningenkai for the necklace for an hour only to find it right under their noses the whole time. He felt suspicious of its authenticity.

In short, his pride just didn't want to accept the fact that Kuwabara had found the necklace before he did.

"Where did you get that Keiko?" Botan asked the girl. Keiko looked up in thought before answering the blue haired grim reaper.

"I was shopping with my friend the other day when a lady who sells beautiful necklaces and other accessories called me over and presented me with it. I found the necklace really pretty so I bought it from her." She explained. "Is this your mission for Konema? To look for a necklace?" Botan nodded in reply to her question. "I see."

Yusuke decided to just forget about worrying whether the necklace was the one they've been looking for or not and just hand it over to the spirit ruler, thinking that this way, he would get the weekend he had been looking foward to. "Now that we have the necklace, we don't have to waste our saturday doing one of the toddler's missions. You better give it to Konema right now before something else happens to it." He told Botan. The grim reaper nodded in agreement and held out her hand to Kuwabara, who still held the necklace in his hand. The ningen was about to give it to Botan when all of a sudden, a strong breeze came by and brought dust all over their vision. Everyone in the group was stunned and couldn't react quickly to what was happening. They covered their eyes and mouths as they tried to get away from the strange cloud of dust. Just as it had come suddenly, it disappeared just as fast, as if the cloud of dust never existed and was just in their imaginations.

"What the hell was that!" Kuwabara cried.

"That was no ordinary breeze or cloud of dust." Botan said in agreement.

"It might be a distraction for us. Do you still have the necklace in your hand, Kuwabara?" Yusuke asked, turning to the red haired ningen. Kuwabara grinned proudly and held out his clenched fist to the detective, only to find it empty. He stared at his hand for a long time before he realized what just happened and began searching himself frantically, looking for the necklace in a whirl of panic.

"It has to be somewhere here! It just has to be!" He screamed. At that moment, they caught sight of a large number of strange beings running past them towards the opposite direction. Kuwabara took one look at the group and narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "I sense youkai energy in those guys." He said. Yusuke didn't reply to him but managed to overhear one of the running monsters and widened his eyes as he listened to what it said.

"That woman has the necklace! After her!" Yusuke turned to Kuwabara, took him by the collar and began dragging him along, following the trail of youkais into the streets. The ningen had no choice but to follow as much as he could while screaming angrily at the detective.

"Let me go Urameshi. I can walk on my own!"

"Then start running baka before we lose track of them! Botan, Keiko, we'll let you know what happened as soon as we get back the necklace from them." He cried before they disappeared into the darkness along with the youkais. The girls stared at the direction they ran into, looked at each other and sighed.

"I guess I'll just go home then." Keiko told Botan. The grim reaper smiled.

"Let me take you there. It's dangerous to walk out alone at night." With a small thank you, Keiko walked beside Botan to the direction of her house, her thoughts wandering towards Yusuke and Kuwabara.

_I hope they'll be alright..._


	4. Chapter 3

Author's Note: Sadly I didn't get a lot of reviews from the last chapter...barely two or one. But I thank those who did. You really brighten up my day. And now, without further ado, here's the next chapter.

Wait. Before you do, PLEASE OH PLEASE OH PLEASE OH PLEASE R&R me! I'm begging youuuuu all! (is desperate)

**Chapter 3 - Wild Goose Chase**

Kurama was walking alone on the sidewalk, thinking deeply to himself while letting his legs lead him to where his instincts tell him to go. He had been through most of the stores which sold necklaces and found nothing that would lead him to the one he was looking for. He found himself nearing his home and decided to resume his search tomorrow when it was bright and when he was refreshed and energized. Before he could arrive at the gates to his home though, he saw a raven haired woman running towards him. He stopped and blinked in confusion, wondering why the woman was running and who she was running from. His first question was answered when he caught sight of a silver glint on the girl's hand. He took a closer inspection and saw that it was a necklace with a purple gem hanging on it. He recalled the description Tenerie had told him of the necklace, realizing that it fitted perfectly with the one the woman was holding. Kurama also saw a group of demons running after her from behind and this just confirmed his suspicions.

_I have to take that necklace before those youkais do. _

Kurama began running towards the woman as well, trying as much as he could to get ahead of the youkais. Unfortunately for him the woman saw what he intended to do and sharply turned around a corner into a narrow space in between two houses. Kurama reacted quickly as he began to sprint and turned the same corner, the group of youkais slowly catching up to him from behind. He followed the woman though the narrow path and out into another street. He looked from left to right, and saw the woman running into a department store. Kurama followed, trying to keep sight of her as much as he could. Once he entered the building, he couldn't find the woman in the sea of clothes and miscellaneous things. Kurama slowly walked around, looking as hard as he could to no avail. He turned around and saw the group of youkais enter and search as well.

"Over there! She's at the fourth floor!" One of them cried while pointing up in the air. Kurama followed the youkai's finger and widened his eyes as he saw the raven woman running across on the upper floor.

_How did she get there so fast?_ Kurama had to cut his thoughts short as the youkais began to run towards the stairs. He figured the stairs was not an option anymore and looked around for any other means of going up. He saw his opportunity through the escalator that was slowly bringing people up to the second floor. He ran to the machine and began to hurriedly climb up, jumping up from one escalator to another from time to time to speed up his climbing process. He arrived at the fourth floor just in time as he caught sight of the woman running away from him. He quickly got up and ran after her as fast as he could.

At this time Yusuke and Kuwabara had just entered the store and were looking around for the demons and for the female thief.

"Darn it! Where could they have gone off to?" Yusuke cursed as his head violently turned left and right. Kuwabara tugged at his sleeve and pointed up at the fourth floor.

"There! I see the youkais over there." Yusuke looked up as well and saw the last of the youkais running off. He ran to the stairs and climbed them up three steps at a time while Kuwabara struggled behind him. They stopped at the fourth floor, panting with exhaustion, but went on and ran after the last of the youkais towards the make-up section of the department store. "This is getting us nowhere. We have to go past all these youkais so we can catch that woman." Kuwabara told the detective. Yusuke agreed silently and stopped, scanning his surroundings while thinking of a plan in his head. His eyes roamed around until they stopped at a raven haired girl who was running towards a new section of the store.

"Follow me!" Yusuke shouted before running off away from the youkais. Kuwabara saw the woman and quickly understood the detective's intention as he began to run after him. Yusuke and his ningen friend ran as fast as they could in the other side of the new section to shorten the gap between them and the thief. Then, when they were close enough to catch her, they jumped at her from behind a counter, catching her by surprise. The woman managed to evade all the hands except for one of Kuwabara's, which took a hold on her right foot. She lost her balance and fell down to the ground, accidentally dropping the necklace as well. Three pairs of eyes watched the silver chain fly in the air and fall down into a pile of items. Yusuke got up and groaned when he saw what the pile was made up of.

"How can you be such an idiot! You just made her throw the necklace into a large pile of them. How are we going to look for it now?" Yusuke yelled at his friend. Kuwabara glared and was about to answer back when the woman they had tripped scrambled up and ran for the pile. Yusuke and Kuwabara exchanged glances and followed as soon as their brains realized what they were supposed to do. Together, the three bombarded the pile and began snatching necklace after necklace, throwing it aside when it wasn't the one they were looking for. Kurama and the group of youkais finally arrived and all they could do at that moment was stare at what was happening before them. The kitsune was blinking in confusion and surprise as he watched two of his friends scrambling in the pile.

"Yusuke? Kuwabara? Don't tell me you're..." This was never completed as the youkais charged at the pile and began taking necklaces as well. Kurama had no choice but to follow and ask for an explanation from Yusuke and Kuwabara later. They rummaged around the pile for a while, throwing necklaces all over the ground, until Kuwabara took one and raised it up in triumph.

"I got it! I got the necklace."

"Pass it over to me then!" Yusuke shouted as he pushed some of the youkais in front of him to the side, trying to move closer to the ningen. Kuwabara didn't hear the detective, too immersed with his so called victory and as a result, was thrown to the ground by more youkais. He struggled with them while trying to keep the necklace in his hand for as long as he could. Kurama saw this as his opportunity and snatched the necklace from Kuwabara before he could react or move.

"What the-what are you doing Kurama! Give that necklace back!" Kuwabara cried. Kurama ignored him and began to run away from the group, towards the escalator, where he jumped and skipped a couple of them to reach the ground floor in no time. Everyone else on the fourth floor ran for the railings and looked down at the kitsune as he went out of the building. The youkais immediately ran back to the stairs and went down while Yusuke and Kuwabara were still debating with themselves whether they should jump as well or go down the stairs. The thief on the other hand made no hesitation as she hoisted herself on the railing and jumped as high as she could towards a large banner that was being hanged by ropes on each end of the wall. Yusuke and Kuwabara watched with awe and shock as they saw her grab the banner, untie the rope holding the banner, and swing towards the ground in a Tarzan-like way. They watched her let go of the rope and land on the ground-not as gracefully as Kurama had-then run after the kistune.

"She's a ningen...isn't she?" Kuwabara asked hesitantly.

"Well she's supposed to be. Neither of us could sense anything weird from her after all. Either she's a youkai who, by some unknown reason, can hide her energy from anyone or she's one strong and brave ningen." Yusuke answered. Then they watched the group of youkais follow after the woman outside the building. The detective turned to Kuwabara and stepped aside to make room between them.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's hurry after them." Kuwabara stared dumbly over the rails, down on the first floor and looked at Yusuke as if he had come from the mental asylum.

"Have you lost your marbles Urameshi! The first floor's at least 50 feet below us! How are we going to get down from here and stay uninjured?"

"Just shut up and jump! We don't have a lot of time to waste." Without warning, Yusuke grabbed Kuwabara's shirt collar and threw him over the railings, sending him flying face first towards the ground floor. Anyone in the building could hear the ningen's loud and ear-piercing screams as he fell into a water fountain that had happened to be there. Yusuke jumped after him and landed on the top of the large statue positioned there before landing on the ground, safe and sound. After a few minutes, Kuwabara stood up and went over the edge of the fountain, spluttering towards Yusuke and taking his collar to bring the detective's face in front of his.

"Damn you Urameshi! I could have died back there. If this fountain wasn't deep enough I would have been as flat as a pancake!" He growled angrily. Yusuke merely shrugged and began to chase the youkais, the thief and Kurama outside the building, leaving a very wet Kuwabara behind.

"Hurry up or I'm leaving you there."

"Hey! Wait up Urameshi!" Kuwabara shouted as he began to run after the detective, ignoring the splashing, spluttering sounds of his soaked shoes as he ran after Yusuke.

switch scene

Kurama kept on running to where his feet would lead him to, only to find himself near an abandoned warehouse. He then stopped and turned around to face the youkais, deciding then and there to finish them off while no innocent passer by would get hurt. They arrived a few seconds later, each one standing a few meters away from Kurama, putting their guards up. A moment of stillness passed between Kurama and the youkais and it was at this time when Yuske and Kuwabara caught up with the rest.

"Hey Kurama! We need that necklace so give it back to us now!" Kuwabara shouted angrily as he held out his hand towards the kitsune. Yusuke was about to say the same thing when he noticed the people who were standing right beside them. He held Kuwabara's shoulder and turned to the youkais.

"I suggest we save the explanations for later, and kick their butts now."

As soon as Yusuke finished saying this a fight broke out among them, bringing chaos and confusion in the vicinity. Kurama, Yusuke and Kuwabara could do nothing but fight and kill the youkais who were charging at them non-stop. The kistune with his magically summoned rose whip, the detective with his spirit gun, and the ningen with his spirit sword. Youkai after youkai came after them and the three killed all as they came. While all this occurred, the same woman who had stolen the necklace first jumped in the battle unexpectedly, crept up to Kurama and without warning, took the necklace from his hand. The battle immediately ceased as everyone watched the woman jump over one of the youkais and run inside the warehouse. Kurama was dumbstruck as he stood there, frozen in place in initial shock.

_That ningen just took the necklace from me like it was nothing. How could I have overlooked her and let her come up to me unnoticed?_

He shook his head, trying to clear the question from his mind and began to run after the thief into the warehouse. His question-all his questions will have to be answered some other day. Everyone went in and looked around, searching for the female thief in the darkness of the building. The warehouse was old and dusty, the smell of dead rats and cats filled Yusuke and Kuwabara's nostrils, making their eyes water with pain. Kurama ignored this and heard the odd sounds of footsteps somewhere above him. He looked up to find, with surprise, the said thief climbing out of the window on the ceiling. He began to run towards one of the old, big, unused machines and jumped on it to reach the second ramp, once again with the help of his rose whip. Yusuke and Kuwabara had no choice but to go out of the warehouse while the other youkais attempted to follow the kistune.

Kurama arrived at the rooftop and stood face to face with the female thief. They stared at each other in silence, checking each other out before making any kind of move. Kurama wondered what this ningen could possibly do but didn't want to stay and find out. He firmly held his whip and gave a small, apologetic look towards the girl.

"I'm sorry for doing this to you. But if you don't give me that necklace, I will have to hurt you." He warned. A look of surprise came to him when the reply he got in return was a smirk that seemed to consider his warning a challenge.

"That's an interesting deal you got there. Unfortunately for you," At this the thief raised her fist in preparation. Kurama could see the muscles tense, her fighting stance firm and confident. "I only agree to deals which benefit me." Kurama sighed and shook his head in disbelief. There was still time to try and persuade her even for a few minutes.

"What do you want then? Food? Shelter? Money? I can give you anything you wish if you just give me that necklace." The thief shook her head and raised the hand that held the necklace. It shined brightly in the reflection of the moon, giving it a soft, luminous glow.

"The only thing I want is this necklace. There is nothing you can give me in exchange for it." She murmured softly. A loud battle cry followed by a large figure of a person suddenly appeared and knocked down the thief by surprise. Kurama blinked in shock as the shadowed figure of Kuwabara stood up from the ground and grinned at the kitsune, the necklace swinging slightly in the ningen's hand.

"It's nothing personal buddy. It's all business." And with that, he jumped down from the roof and landed in a pile of boxes placed there for his benefit. Yusuke appeared and began motioning for Kuwabara to follow. The female thief cursed as she jumped down and landed in the same spot the ningen landed on. She staggered up and was about to run after him when Kuwabara tripped and fell down. She saw, with surprise and shock, Kurama who was standing behind the ningen with a foot stuck out to his side. The kitsune, without letting anyone know, had seen a ladder on the side and used it to get down very quickly. Yusuke stopped in his tracks, turned his head back and muttered colorful words under his breath.

Kurama casually couched down beside Kuwabara's fallen form and took the necklace from his hand. Then he gave a smile to the ningen before standing up and walking away. Kuwabara managed to scramble back up and glared at Kurama's retreating form. "Hey that wasn't fair! You cheated." The kistune turned around to face him and shrugged in reply.

"It's nothing personal Kuwabara. It's all...business as you would call it."

It took Kuwabara a few minutes to realize what Kurama had said and the meaning behind it but when he did, Kurama had already run off. Yusuke walked beside Kuwabara and slapped his head while scolding him angrily about not being careful. The ningen held his head in pain then shouted back at the detective in his own defense. They started arguing with each other and didn't notice the girl running after Kurama or the large group of youkais passing by them and going after the thief as well.

By the time they did, the last of the youkais were disappearing from their sight. They stopped whatever they were doing and began to go after everyone else.

swtich scene

_There has to be a way to throw everyone off track. There has to be!_ Kurama thought as he ran through the busy streets of the night. He found himself making good time as he tried to throw his chasers off track. They haven't lost sight of him, but he was sure they couldn't catch up with him at the moment. While he ran through the busy street, through small stores, past people who were headed home, he looked at the silver chain he held tightly in his hand. He had the item he needed, but he can't possibly go to his home or else his mother might be in danger. He couldn't go to where Tenerie is either because she would be the one facing the danger if he did. He had to think of another way to get away from everyone before he got caught.

With an idea slowly forming in Kurama's intellectual mind, the kitsune began to run through one of the dark alleys of the city, making sure that this time, he was being followed. He ran as much as he could until he arrived at a dead end. Kurama saw to his approval that the wall was as high as the buildings beside it, making it impossible for anyone to go over.

Any weak youkai or ningen, that is.

He took a few deep breaths, taking a short rest from all the running, before heading towards one of the emergency escape ladders that were always built in case of fires. He climbed up this steel ladder and using his rose whip as a rope, climbed up all the way to the rooftop of the building in a matter of seconds. He didn't take a moment to look behind him as he ran through the roofs of the different houses, hoping with hope that he had lost everyone who had been chasing him.

The female thief had arrived in the alley and looked up to find Kurama running away. She grumbled to herself before climbing up the ladder and jumping from one railing up to another. Fortunately for her, no one had seen her go up with such skill, power and agility. If they had, they would have questioned her race as a ningen, which would have given her quite some trouble. By the time the youkais arrived, Kurama and the female thief where nowhere to be seen. They looked all over the alley, trying to open doors and check windows to see if they had entered one of the rooms, to no avail. To the youkais, it was as if both the kitsune and the thief had disappeared into thin air. At this time, both Yusuke and Kuwabara had gone into the alley and saw that the youkais were at a loss.

"Damn it! We lost Kurama and that thief." The detective cursed to himself. He was heard by the youkais nearest to them who then turned to face the two. They began whispering to each other, the message passing all the way to the front of the group. Together, all the youkais turned to them with an angry growl on their faces. Yusuke raised an eyebrow then as what was going on clicked in his mind, crossed his arms smugly, a large smirk curling up his lips.

"I would have preferred to end this night with the necklace in hand but I guess I have no choice but to take it out on all of you." He said excitedly, uncrossing his arms and clenching both hands into firm fists. Kuwabara called out his spirit sword and stepped right beside the detective, just as eager as he was to fight.

"You do know Konema's going to kick our butts for not getting that necklace right?" Kuwabara told him softly. Yusuke ignored his question and began to charge into the sea of youkais.

"Just so you know, Urameshi. I'm putting all the blame on you." Kuwabara shouted to him before charging into the fight as well.

switch scene

Kurama stopped running and jumping a few rooftops later and took a look back to see if his plan had worked. He didn't see the female thief, or his two friends, or the group of youkais following him, to his relief. He turned forward again only to find a clenched fist connecting to his cheek. He fell back a few steps but caught his balance again as the mysterious attacker threw another punch. He dodged the hand and immediately took the attacker's wrist in his strong grip. He moved behind the attacker, still holding the wrist and was about to wrap his other free arm around the neck when his attacker stepped on his foot and threw an uppercut to Kurama's chin while he was recovering from the pain on his foot. Kurama fell to the ground and looked up to take a look at his attacker.

He couldn't see the person in the darkness at first, with no light to brighten up the rooftop. But at that moment the large billboard sign on the building beside them was turned on, filling the rooftop with a dim, neon-colored glow. Kurama's eyes widened as he finally recognized his attacker.

"You...how did you catch up with me?" He managed to ask as he recovered from his initial shock. The female thief stood there, looking down at him, with an expressionless gaze.

_How on earth did she know where I was? And even if she knew, it would have taken her quite some time climbing up those escape ladders. Who is this person and what does she want with this necklace? She couldn't possibly know of its origin and its capabilities does she?_

"Where's the necklace?" She asked him without answering his own question.

"I'm sorry to say you can't have it." He replied, standing up and throwing a kick to her stomach with quick agility. She held her stomach in pain and doubled over but before Kurama could run away a black wolf emerged and blocked his way out. The wolf growled low, its fangs revealing themselves with a snarl. This gave the thief time to recover and strike back at Kurama with a kick to the chest.

The kitsune wasn't prepared for that and fell to the ground with a loud thud. The sound of a sickening crunch of something glass-like could be heard in the silence. Kurama widened his eyes as he fumbled in his pockets for the necklace. He took it out and saw that the gem had been crushed into pieces when he fell down. He stared long and hard at what used to be a purple gem and blinked in shock.

_It was...a fake?_

Kurama looked up to open his mouth but no words could come out. For when he did turn to speak to the thief, she and her black wolf had disappeared into the darkness. He stared at where she had been, his brain still trying to gather what information he had about the mysterious woman, and stood up from the ground after a minute. It was getting late. He should go to bed and think it over when he's feeling more refreshed.

He arrived near his home a few minutes later and found Yusuke and Kuwabara waiting for him at the gate. He went up to them and calmly stared while Yusuke took him by the collar in his anger. By the way their clothes looked tattered and torn, he guessed they got into a big fight with the youkais.

"Where's the necklace Kurama! We know you have it." He said. Kurama shook his head as he took out the broken gem and placed it in Yusuke's hand.

"I'm sorry Yusuke. The necklace I got wasn't the necklace everyone was looking for. It might still be at the department store." Yusuke widened his eyes and turned to Kuwabara, who had gotten the necklace in the first place.

"You picked the wrong necklace you dummy!"

"It wasn't my fault they all looked alike!"

"Either that or...or somehow that female thief switched the necklaces while she had it back at the warehouse. That's possible." Kurama mused to himself. Yusuke sighed heavily and massaged his throbbing temples.

"I knew this wasn't going to be easy...so why on earth are you looking for that necklace Kurama?" He asked him.

"Someone asked me to. She's...I don't think she's an enemy and I don't think she intends to do anything wrong with it." Kurama answered. "What about you? Why were you chasing that necklace?" Yusuke began to explain to the kistune what he learned during his meeting with Konema and what had transpired after. Kurama listened to his explanation and gave a tired sigh when he finished.

"It would be better if we ask her to speak with Konema tomorrow and tell him her side of the story. Things might become much clearer and easier that way." Kurama suggested. Yusuke grumbled and gave in.

"Alright. Get the girl and meet us in my apartment. We'll look for Botan once everyone is there." He told both Kurama and Kuwabara. "But as for now, I'm going to bed. Night guys." He gave a small wave to the two as he began walking back to where his apartment was. Kurama waved goodbye to Kuwabara as well before walking into his house and going up to his room.

switch scene

Deep in the heart of the mysterious forest surrounding Genkai's temple, a portal suddenly opened out of nowhere. A dark figure fell out of this portal and landed on the ground lightly followed by the black wolf. The golden brown falcon, who was waiting for the raven haired girl at a branch of the tree, flew up at the sound and rushed to the woman.

"What had taken you so long? I thought something bad had happened to you." He asked worriedly. The woman tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and turned to the falcon while the black wolf walked away and began searching for food in the forest.

"There had been slight complications. But not to worry. It has been taken care of. Where is it then?" She asked, holding out her hand. The falcon sighed and flew up to a nest, taking something inside it, then throwing it in the air towards her. She caught it in her hand and looked at it. The silver chain glinted in the moon's light, reflecting her smiling face in the darkness.

"Yup. This is it alright. The Sorcerer's necklace. Ronel's necklace by the looks of it. Good work Fal. Good work."

"So now that you have the necklace, what next?" It asked her. The thief closed it in her hand and kept it in her pocket before turning to the falcon.

"We've made our move. Now it's our turn to wait and see what they do next."


	5. Chapter 4

Author's Note: Thanks for those who reviewed. I really feel great for those who do. So to those who have been reading, thanks and please read and review. I don't mind critics and I don't mind flames. But if you're the type who wants me to get mad or answer back then don't bother. I'll just read those and pretend they never existed. Anyways, on with the story!

**Chapter 4 - The Next Move**

The next day Yusuke and the others arrived at Konema's office with the help of Botan. They reported to the ruler what had happened the other day, ending their report with the failure to recapture the necklace. Konema sighed at this news and then turned to Tenerie. The amateur magician, at the ruler's request, told him everything she told Kurama, ending with the agreement to their deal.

"I see...it surprises me that no one in Rekai or Makkai knew they still lived until now. I shall ask my spies to look further into this and ask them to check any weird activities among the youkais in Makkai. It seems to me that this necklace belongs to your teacher, Miss Tenerie. And so it rightfully belongs to you, since the Sorcerer has asked you to look for it. Do you know what it is capable of?" He asked. Tenerie shook her head.

"No sir. He never mentioned of its existence to me until then. But I was under the impression that it was capable of doing something powerful." She told him. Konema brooded over this, nodding his head slightly.

"Yusuke, Kuwbara, Kurama, I want you three to describe to me the female thief who is assumed to be in possession of the necklace right now." The three tried their very best to describe the mysterious female to the toddler, leaving nothing behind. When Seiki heard the description she widened her eyes and jumped up and down excitedly, glad to be of some help.

"I met her too! I was walking out of the inn we were staying at and saw her steal a burger from a ningen. She saved me from a couple of bad men and brought me back to the inn though. She might go there all the time to get something to eat." Konema nodded as he wrote everything he asked for in a piece of paper and handed it to Botan when he was done.

"Once you bring Yusuke and the others back to Ningenkai, take this to our informants and get them to bring me every single information they can find about the things written on the list. I want to know who this thief is, who her parents are, how old she is, what she does for a living, what her background is, where she lives; anything at all. This will be their top priority do you understand me?" He demanded. Botan nodded, took the paper from him and left the office. Konema turned his attention back to the detectives and crossed his arms.

"As for you, I want you to continue looking for this necklace. If you can, bring the thief to me as well. We'll have to ask her some questions too. I shall send Botan to you for more information on the girl later once my spies have collected some. It will help you in your search." The three nodded and together with Seiki, Tenerie and Botan, left the office. They arrived back at Ningenkai near Yusuke's apartment and as soon as Botan left, began discussing their plans inside the detective's room.

"While Konema's looking for information on this thief, I suggest we head out and check the department store in case the necklace is still there. Tenerie and Seiki will go back to their inn and stay there while we look." Kurama told them. The two females were not happy about the plan but had to agree, knowing that the kistune was doing it for their own sakes. So they went out, deciding to explore the city while the other three ran off to the direction of the department store.

switch scene

While everyone else searched frantically for the necklace, the last member of Urameshi's Team was in the forest near Genkai's Temple, hopping from one tree branch to another to keep himself from becoming too weak and out of shape. He was getting tired of living a boring life in Ningenkai and couldn't wait to return to his homeland where he could do everything he wanted to do without worrying about breaking the deal. But since he wasn't allowed to go back yet, he has to spend his time trying to kill time in the forest.

And so there he was trapped in Ningenkai because of a deal he made with the Spirit Ruler in exchange for the crimes he committed. He would have helped Yusuke and the others if he wanted to. He should have helped Yusuke and the others since he had nothing to do. Only he didn't feel like it and didn't see any point in doing that. So it was a usual, boring day in the life of the fire apparition.

Or so he thought.

Getting tired of hopping around uselessly, Hiei stopped in front of a small lake to drink from it. He crouched down, cupped his hands into the water and lifted it up to his lips. The cold unpolluted water refreshed him as he sipped it slowly. Once he drank enough, he splashed some of the water on his face. He stopped in the middle of it and sharply turned his head around at the sound of a small and faint crunch of a twig. He narrowed his eyes as he watched a young raven haired ningen walk towards him and stop beside a tree trunk to lean on it. Her head turned up at the sky, looking for something that was in the air. When the woman realized that Hiei was still glaring at her, she looked at him and raised her hands in defense.

"Oh don't let me stop you from doing whatever you're doing. I'm just here to wait on someone." She told him. Hiei gave her one last, threatening glare before he stood up and began to walk away. Before he could jump from a tree branch to escape the woman's company though, she spoke out to him.

"So what's someone like you doing out in a deserted place like this?" He stopped and looked over his shoulder, still glaring at her.

"It's none of your business." He snapped. He was about to leave once more when she spoke again. She was beginning to annoy Hiei and it took him every single ounce of his control to keep himself from slicing her throat. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't kill any ningen as part of the deal with Konema.

"Ah hello there. Do you need something from me?" The girl had asked in a cool and casual tone. Hiei realized a few seconds later that she was talking to someone else and turned around to find a gang of youkais surrounding her. He was confident that they weren't the ones the woman was waiting for and wondered what they needed from a useless ningen like her.

"Hand over the necklace baka ningen. We know you have it." One of them said as he stepped foward and tried to frighten her with his large and powerful body. It didn't seem to work for instead of cowering in fear, the woman looked at him indifferently and pretened to think deeply.

"The necklace?"

"Yeah you stole a necklace that was supposed to be ours. Tell us where it is and tell the truth or else you'll regret messing with us."

"Alright then. I have the necklace right here in my pocket. I even have another one around my neck if you want. I got it from the same place I got the first necklace." She said.

"We told you to tell the truth!" The youkai shouted angrily. The woman looked at him innocently and shrugged.

"I was telling the truth. If you don't believe me then it's your loss."

"What if she really is telling the truth? We should check her out and see if the necklaces are there." The youkai beside the first one asked him. "But what if this is all just a trick to put us in her trap and make us look like fools?" Another asked. The woman crossed her arms and shook her head in disbelief.

"Boys, boys, boys. If you ask for the truth from me, I'll be happy to give it to you. I'm a very honest person and I rarely lie to anyone, even my enemies." This made the youkais happy. They were about to take her when she held up a hand in front of them. "But...what if I'm lying to you about telling the truth? Or what if I'm lying now about lying about telling the truth?" An amused smile came to her lips at the youkais tried to take in what she just told them. And while they thought of this, the girl began to walk away.

"Hey stop right there! I've had enough of your games for one day ningen. Now tell us where the necklace is right now or we're going to kill you." The youkai shouted at her. The woman turned to them and gave a defeated sigh.

"Alright. I give up. You guys are too smart for me. The necklace is with him." Hiei widened his eyes in shock as the woman pointed her finger at him. The youkais seemed to believe her then, as they turned to his direction and narrowed their eyes at him. While they were looking at Hiei, the woman immediately ran away from the scene. Hiei growled and cursed under his breath as the youkais charged at him fiercely.

_That baka ningen will pay for this!_

switch scene

Tenerie and Seiki spent the rest of the day in relaxation, going to museums, aquariums and other public places. They were having so much fun that they didn't notice the time pass by so quickly. When they decided to stop and get back to the inn, it was dark and it was already late by then. Only a small number of people were walking along the streets at this time. Most were closing their shops or going inside a building.

"We better get back as fast as we can. It's too dangerous to be out here alone." Tenerie told her. Seiki made no move to agrue with her and quickly followed the older woman past houses, buildings and stores. While they continued to walk back to the inn, Tenerie began to sense someone else following them. She turned a corner to see if the stranger will follow and sure enough, she sensed the same person go through the same path. She stopped and pretened to look at the displays behind the window of a store and noticed that the person stopped as well.

"Tenerie? What's going on?" Seiki asked. Tenerie looked down at her and shook her head, putting on a false smile to keep her from knowing.

"Oh it's nothing. Let's just go back as soon as possible." She told her. As much as Tenerie tried to prevent it, Seiki began to feel worried and scared. She nodded meekly as she followed the older woman through the streets, holding her hand tighter than before.

Tenerie began to jog through the streets, turning around corners from time to time, trying to get to the inn as fast as she could and at the same time, throw off the stranger's track. But he was too fast, too quick to reactions, that no matter how much Tenerie tried, she couldn't shake him off. Slowly, more and more strangers began crowding over her, moving closer to her until they surrounded both her and Seiki in a tight circle. Tenerie slapped herself mentally for allowing herself to get caught in such an obvious trap. At closer inspection, Tenerie saw to her horror that the strangers surrounding her were not ningens but youkais.

"Yes? C-can I help you with something?" She asked as bravely as she could, clenching her hands into fists as she prepared to fight against them if it ever came to that. One of the youkais walked up to her and held out his hand.

"You better come with us. The master wants to see you as soon as possible." He said. Tenerie sensed something weird among the youkais. It was different than the ones she usually encountered in her travels. She wanted to find out more but she had no idea how. Instead of that, Tenerie crouched down, took Seiki in her arms and sent a strong force of energy from her body towards the surrounding youkais to push them away. Unfortunately for her it had no effect whatsoever on the youkais. And to add to her surprise, the youkais sent their own energies towards her, which Tenerie defended against with the barrier she placed around her. A few minutes passed and the energies turned into strong magical attacks. Tenerie was stunned and couldn't do anything else but hold the shield as long as she could.

_These youkais...these youkais know how to use magic! How is this possible? What am I going to do now? I can't fight back. Lord Ronel only taught me how to defend myself. He didn't get to teach me how to use any magic attacks._

"Do not resist further or else you will only hurt yourself." The youkai told her. Tenerie was torn between fighting a losing battle and surrendering herself to the enemy. But before she could decide on what to do, one of the youkais was suddenly blasted into nothing by a large fireball. The rest turned around and widened their eyes in surprise as a volley of fireballs came falling down from nowhere. Some were not able to put up a shield that quickly and burned themselves to death but those who did felt the strong force of the attack as they held up their shield.

"Who's there? Show yourself!" The youkai shouted. The others were looking around, trying to find the source of the attacks. Tenerie couldn't help but search for the person who had just saved them as well. Seiki was the first one to notice and tugged at Tenerie's sleeve to get her attention.

"Tenerie. Over there, standing on one of the tree branches." She whispered. Tenerie's head shot up and tensed as the dark figure loomed over them, standing on the only tree on that street. The clouds had blocked the moon then, keeping her from getting a clear view of their savior. The other youkais were still looking around cluelessly and never noticed the mysterious stranger jump down from the branch and cast another magic attack at one of the youkais. This time the youkai was shocked by a strong electrical current that had come out of nowhere. Before the rest could react to this, the stranger stretched out her palm and sent vines at the youkais, wrapping them all together in one, tight bond. They tried to get out of their predicament but the vines were too tight, too strong for them to break.

"Who the hell are you! Stop being a coward and show yourself!" The youkai shouted angrily at the stranger.

"You do not need to know who I am. All you need to know about me is that I do not take lightly those who attack women and children for no reason at all. They, I believe, are the ones who should be called cowards." The stranger answered. The clouds have passed on and the moon was once again, able to shine its light on the nightgoers. Tenerie watched as the moonlight casted its glow on the stranger and gasped at what she saw.

It was as if she was looking at a beautiful goddess silhouetted by the moonlight that night. Silky, silver-blue hair cascaded over her strong and firm shoulders and fell down in a soft and graceful manner. She stood up with such strength and dignity that to Tenerie, she didn't seem like any normal being. The mysterious stranger crossed her arms at the binded youkais and her silver eyes, to Tenerie's surprise, glowed a dark, black-ish color. When it did, the vines began to tighten around the youkais, barely giving them the space to breathe.

"Who taught you how to use magic?" She asked them demandingly. When no one answered, her eyes glowed black and the vines began to tighten even more around the youkais. "Who?" She repeated. It seemed like none of the youkais would speak no matter how tight she made the vines become. After a moment, the woman gave a heavy sigh and shook her head slowly. With a snap of her long and thin fingers, the vines caught fire and burned the rest of the youkais alive.

"It's a shame really. I would have spared their lives if they had answered my question." She muttered to no one in particular. She turned to take note of Tenerie and Seiki and gave a curt nod to the two before walking away from them. The former woman had snapped out of her shock and scrambled up the ground in a hurry to catch up with the mysterious silver-blue haired woman.

"Wait up! I want to..." Before she could finish her sentence, a portal appeared out of nowhere. The woman stood before it and turned to cast one last mysterious smile at Tenerie before walking into the said portal and disappearing into thin air. Seiki stood up and walked beside the other woman, who was still rooted to the spot in awe and shock. The night went on like nothing happened and no one but the two knew of what had happened.

switch scene

The next day, Tenerie and Seiki immediately went to Kurama's house to discuss with him what had happened the night before. Fortunately for them it was a sunday and Kurama was up in his room doing his homework. The kitsune got to them and called Yusuke and Kuwabara to tell them to meet up in his home. They arrived minutes later and listened as Tenerie told them what happened.

"...and then this portal appeared out of nowhere. She went in this portal and disappeared along with it." She ended. Kurama was silent as he stood up from his chair and paced back and forth in his room.

"This doesn't sound good guys. If the ones who attacked the girls are who I think they are, then Tenerie and Seiki are in greater danger than they think. Whether they have the necklace or not wouldn't matter beacuse it's not anymore safe for them to be alone. For some unknown reason, the youkais are going after them."

"Maybe they think we know where it is and so they want us to tell them." Tenerie suggested.

"Well whatever the reason, you're still being tracked down. So my best advice for the two of you would be to seek Konema's protection in Rekai."

"But who was that woman who saved them from those youkais and what was her purpose in saving them? And who is this person teaching youkais how to become magicians?" Yusuke asked. Kurama had no idea what to answer to Yusuke's questions.

"We shall have to ask Konema about the woman. As for her purpose in saving Tenerie and Seiki, well there are a lot of possibilities that can be considered. She might have passed by, by some coincidence and helped Tenerie and Seiki out of goodness. But she could also be someone who had some matters to deal with those youkais. The only way we'll find out the answer to that is if we question this woman in person. And for your last question Yusuke, well...it could be a dark magician, it could be a Sorcerer/Sorceress, or it could be an entirely different person." Kurama said, massaging his temple as a headache began to appear. There were so much questions that needed to be answered all at once.

Just in time, as if to bring them all out of their deep thoughts, Botan came flying towards the window and waited for Kurama to open it. She entered and landed softly on the ground while she held her oar with one hand. Everyone looked at her expectantly, wondering what news from Konema they were going to get.

"Well I got the information Konema had asked the spies to get. Here it is." Botan said as she handed to Yusuke a short folder. The detective took it from her and opened it. A few seconds later he closed the folder and looked at Botan in disbelief.

"Are you making fun of me or something?"

"No. Why would I do that?" Botan asked him, clearly having no idea to what Yusuke meant. Yusuke opened the folder again and held it out for everyone to see.

"Look at this folder and tell me what you see. It's empty! Zil! Nada! Nothing!" Yusuke cried. Kurama had a bewildered look on his face as he took the folder from the detective and tried to search it.

"If it's empty, then it means Konema had no information on the girl whatsoever. If that's the case then why did he make you send an empty folder to Yusuke?" Kurama asked. Botan shrugged.

"I don't know. When I entered his office Konema just told me to send this folder to Yusuke. But I did sense something weird while getting it from him. He had a big goofy smile on his face as if he was hiding something." Botan said as she recalled her meeting with Konema. Yusuke grumbled and crossed his arms in anger.

"Of all the days to get a sense of humor, he picks this particular day. That stupid baby has the worst timing in the world not to mention..." Kurama sighed as Yusuke continued to complain about Konema then turned to Botan.

"Hey Botan, can you take Tenerie and Seiki to Konema? You two better go along with them so you can tell him what has happened here." Kurama said as he turned to Kuwabara and Yusuke, who has stopped muttering things about Konema. "And don't forget to leave through the door. My mother will start to wonder if we suddenly disappear without her knowing." Kuwabara looked at the kitsune curiously as he watched him leave his own room first.

"What are you going to do while we're at Konema's?" He asked him. Kurama turned back to them with a small smile on his face.

"I'm going to try and get a certain fire youkai to help us out."

switch scene

The mysterious raven haired thief stopped to rest on a branch after running around since yesterday without stopping to take a break. She leaned back on the trunk and gave a weary sigh, her legs aching to relax and stop running.

_What a day..._

Before she could do anything else, she jumped away from the same branch she was sitting on just in time as a black blur passed and sliced it in half. The first half of the branch fell down to the ground while the other was being stood upon by the black blur, who the thief presently recognized as the same youkai she met the day before.

Hiei growled at her and without a word, lunged at her to strike with his sword. The thief managed to back away and jumped onto another tree branch to avoid the attack. Hiei stopped and looked up at where the thief was. He was glaring so much that the thief would have been dead hours ago if the phrase "looks could kill" was meant to be literal. She wasn't that troubled with it though and tried to converse with the fire apparition in a casual manner.

"Well, well, how nice of us to meet again. So how can I help you this time?" The thief asked. Hiei didn't reply and continued trying to attack the woman with his katana. Unfortunately for him, his approach doesn't seem to work on the thief. He was gritting his teeth and was growling softly in his anger as he furiously lashed at the woman who merely evaded his attacks like it was nothing.

"Hm...my guess is you're angry at what I did to you the other day." She said while continuing to evade Hiei's sword. The fire apparition didn't bother to reply, busy as he was with his intent on killing the thief. "Hey it's not my fault those weirdos were after me. And you looked like the sort who could handle a fight or two. Come on! Give me a break!" She cried. Hiei continued to ignore her, and she began to get tired of evading. So instead of evading the next attack, instinct had her get a hold of a branch and use it like a sword to defend herself. Obviously, the branch snapped in two as it connected with the sword. Hiei stopped and raised an eyebrow at her. The thief on the other hand ignored him and stared long and hard at the branch then slapped herself mentally.

_A branch? And of all branches to pick up, I pick a stupid pathetic branch! Guess I'll have to deal with it. This is a forest after all..._

A small smirk broke into Hiei's angry face as he stood in front of her while still holding his katana. A few seconds later he sheathed it back and began walking away, leaving the thief standing there perplexed.

_This ningen is very amusing. I'll let her live for today._

The thief snapped out of her thoughts as she began chasing after Hiei. She knew it wasn't a good idea to get him to attack her again but she wasn't going to let him go after embarrassing herself like that. "What? That's it? You disturb my peace and try to cut my head off only to leave me here! Hey-come back here! I'm not through with you!** HEY**!"

Hiei turned his head around and narrowed his eyes. He began to regret letting her go like that and was tempted to come back and finish what he had started. But before he could turn around he sensed a familiar presence arrive somewhere nearby. He gave another heavy sigh as Kurama landed beside the tree near the spot he was standing at.

"What do you want fox? I am not in the mood for your lectures or your company. Tell me whatever it is you need to tell me and leave before I vent my anger on you instead." Hiei said, narrowing his eyes at the kitsune. Despite the threat, Kurama smiled slightly at the fire apparition.

"I need to ask you a favor, my friend. I promise it won't take too much of your time."

"What is it already?" Hiei growled.

"Well you see, Konema has given Yusuke another mission. Before you complain or say no, please hear me out. All you have to do is help us look for this woman who has a certain necklace with her." Hiei's head suddenly snapped towards the kitsune with a curious look. When he didn't say anything else, Kurama continued. "The necklace is also known as the Sorcerer's necklace. The details will be explained to you if you want to find out more but for now, I have more to tell you. The youkais have been after it as well as we have and so we have to get to her before they do. She has raven black hair and..." Kurama had to stop because Hiei suddenly disappeared before him. He looked around, wondering where Hiei had gone to when he heard a soft thump. Hiei returned minutes later holding over his shoulder a very familiar figure. Kurama couldn't help but chuckle to himself.

_So itWAS a good idea to come here._


	6. Chapter 5

AN: Ey guys! I'm sorry for not updating for long. A lot has happened and our internet got broken so there was a very BIIIIGG momentary lapse. But now I'm back and I'm updating! (yay!) Anyways, here is the latest chapter. Hope you like it. And just so you guys know I might not be able to update much with school and all. So just try to be patient and wait for the updates. They'll come sooner or later. Don't ever think that I won't continue this story because I am.

For those who are reading this right now thank you so much for your support. I appreciate it. Please R&R and if you can please advertise this story to others so they can read it as well. Thank you!

**Chapter 5 - Unyielding Woman**

The thief was still looking for Hiei when something in the color of golden brown stopped right before her eyes. She was taken aback for a few minutes then recovered as quickly and glared at the falcon.

"Fal! What the hell are you doing? I'm busy trying to kick some baka's butt." She told him. The falcon sighed and shook his head.

"Listen to me. I've seen what happened here and I know how much you wish to geteven withthis stranger and deal with him but this getting out of hand. You better stop and leave him alone before you get yourself into trouble." He said. The thief grumbled and glared at the bird.

"Calm down and just chill out. Everything's fine. I am not going to get myself into trouble if I knew I was headed for it." She told him. "Now go and roam around and do whatever it is birds do while I deal with him." The falcon gave a soft sigh and fluttered away into the sky. The thief watched the falcon for a few minutes until she heard the soft crunch of leaves and twigs. Her head snapped towards the source of the sound to find the man she was chasing standing there, the smirk on his lips never disappearing from his face. A new sensation began creeping into the thief's mind. It wasn't one of pleasure or one of happiness. It was one of caution and suspicion.

"So you're not just a normal, pathetic ningen are you?" He asked her. Before the thief could ask what he meant by that, he disappeared from her sight. She tried to react as quickly as she could but knew she had failed when she felt a searing pain at the back of her head. Her body went numb as she felt herself fall to the ground and saw everything slowly being covered in darkness.

When the mysterious thief woke up she wasn't in the forest anymore. She found herself lying down on a soft, comfortable material. She sat up, looked around and found out that it was a bed. She looked further and saw that she was inside a small and messy room filled with clothes, comic books, and games. A green uniform lay on the foot of the bed she was in and there was a chair and a table filled with school books left untouched on one side of the bed. When she looked outside the window she noticed that she had fallen asleep for only a few hours or so. The sun was still up and about. The thief tried to stand up and leave the bed but she felt so weak at the moment that she fell back.

_Ugh...where is that baka oni? I'm going to kill him for this headache!_ The thief thought as she massaged the back of her head where it was still throbbing with pain. Her head snapped up at the sound of the door opening and she pulled up the covers over her, pretending to be asleep. She heard footsteps coming in followed by the sound of voices.

"So this is the thief who took the necklace from Kuwabara..." One said. The thief immediately recognized it as the spirit ruler's own voice. "How did you find her?" He asked.

"I went to the forest to ask for Hiei's help." Another voice answered. This time she recalled hearing the voice from the kistune she fought with when she took the necklace from the ningens. "And he did by bringing her to us." He finished.

"So shall we wake her up now?" Konema asked. All of a sudden the thief felt the covers being pulled away from her. Then she fell from the bed to the ground with a loud thump as someone tipped over the mattress she was lying on. She gave a soft "ouch" as she struggled to stand up and looked up to find the man who was responsible for bringing her there standing before her with a smirk on his face. The thief glared at him and was about to shout angrily at him when someone did it first.

"What is wrong with you Hiei!" Konema, in his older form, had shouted. "We want to wake her up, not get knocked unconscious all over again. And how the hell did you enter here without us knowing in the first place!" Hiei turned to the thief with a short, sarcastic laugh.

"She won't get knocked unconscious with something like that. She's just like those two stubborn boneheads. In case you didn't know, she was awake even before the two of you entered the room. I was here ever since she was placed on the bed, making sure that the baka doesn't run away." He said. The thief glared at him and had the urge to chop him to pieces, fry him on a pan and feed him to the dogs or better yet, to her own black wolf.

_Damn it...why didn't I sense him in the room? It must be because of this stupid headache..._With that last thought in mind, the thief stood up and wobbled over to Hiei who stood where he was with cold indifference. She then grabbed his cloak and glared up at him.

"How dare you hit me on the head like that? Because of you my head is aching like crazy!" Hiei shrugged and slapped her hands away from him.

"It's not my fault baka. You were the one who brought it upon yourself." He replied. The thief backed away and sensing that she was about to fall soon, decided to sit back on the bed. Once she was comfortable she glared at Hiei and answered back.

"No I didn't. If you had spoken to me like a normal being you wouldn't have had to hit me on the head like that and I wouldn't have a headache right now." Hiei raised an eyebrow at her.

"And you expect me to believe that you'd willingly go with us if we asked?" The thief didn't answer him and knew that he knew the answer to that anyway. She tried to redeem herself with another comment when Hiei interrupted her. "Quit complaining baka ningen. I only knocked you out unconscious. If I wasn't under watch by this stupid ruler you would be getting far worse than a pathetic headache.

"Enough! Hiei, if you're going to keep stalling us with this little quarrel I suggest you leave. If you don't want to leave, then keep quiet." Konema snapped in anger. Hiei glared at Konema but conceded and moved away from the thief to lean against the wall. He crossed his arms and watched as Konema walked up to the thief instead.

"We apologize for the way you were brought here but you left us with no choice. Now please kindly hand over the necklace you stole to me. It's a very important item that needs to be taken care of by better hands. If that necklace falls into the wrong hands then it would bring a great disaster to the world." Konema said, trying to get the thief to give him the necklace. The thief crossed her arms stubbornly.

"Nothing's going to happen with it as long as it stays with me. I need this necklace too, believe it or not. And I'm not going to tell you why if you're going to ask." She added before anyone could open their mouth. "I can defend myself against anyone and I won't use the necklace for evil or whatever. So just forget this ever happened, forget about getting the necklace and forget I ever existed." She was about to stand up when Konema forced her to sit back on the bed.

"Now hold on for a second. I was not asking nor pleading you to hand the necklace to me. I ORDER you to hand it to me. You have no idea of its immense value and I would like it to stay that way as well. I'm not saying that you can't defend yourself or that you can't keep that necklace from our enemies, it's just that that necklace will be much better off in our hands." He told her.

"I am not going to hand over the necklace no matter what you say or do to me and that's final!" The thief shouted. Konema was about to explode in anger when Kurama held his shoulder calmly and whispered in his ear.

"Maybe we should let her go and convince her some other time. Nothing we say or do is going to convince her now. We can just keep an eye on her while she still has the necklace." Konema paused for a moment to consider Kurama's suggestion and nodded slightly.

"All right...we'll let you leave this room with that necklace under one condition. One of my men has to go with you and keep an eye on you whatever you do, wherever you go. Deal?" The thief frowned at Konema and hesitated before replying a weak "fine" to the ruler. Satisfied, Konema turned to Hiei with a knowing look. The fire apparition raised an eyebrow at the spirit ruler and made a small grunt of understanding. The thief saw this and widened her eyes in realization.

"Wait...you don't expect him to...of all people...can't you get someone else to follow me around?" Konema shook his head at her.

"No. Either you let Hiei keep a close watch on you, or you stay here until you decide to give up the necklace." He said. The thief glared at Konema and wanted to say a lot more. But knowing the situation she was in, she had no chance of getting out without a fight. Not only that, she could sense about 5 more people outside the room. The thief gave a defeated sigh and nodded.

"Alright. You got yourself a deal." She mumbled. Thinking that it was over, she attempted to stand up again when Konema pushed her down again.

"Speaking of which, I would like to ask you about your...profile. Strangely, we never found any information on you no matter how much we looked for it. Not even an address or a name. Care to explain that?" Konema asked her. The thief was about to shout angrily at Konema when she heard his question. At this, a mysterious smile came upon the woman's lips and she shrugged casually at the spirit ruler.

"Your sources must be very poor then. Maybe someone stole it or something." She suggested to him.

"And why would someone steal your profile of all the profiles we posses?" He asked. The woman shrugged.

"I don't know. Ask the guy who stole it. Now if you will excuse me, I have to go back." Konema massaged his throbbing head and gave a defeated sigh. Then he moved aside as the thief stood up from the bed and stretched. When things seemed fine enough, Konema began leaving the room. He opened the door and found Yusuke and Kuwabara crouching below, trying to eavesdrop on them. Theyimmediately stood upas the door opened and grinnedinnocently and cluelesslyat the spiritruler.Konema shook his head and mumbled silently to himself as he began walking out. When Seiki heard the door open, she immediately rushed to the ruler with eager, hopeful eyes. Tenerie stood up from the couch she was sitting on, expectantly looking at Konema.

"Did she give you the necklace?" Seiki asked. The spirit ruler sadly shook his head at her in reply. The red headed girl frowned and turned to the thief who seemed relieved to leave the room she was in. Seiki walked up to the woman and crossed her arms.

"Why won't you give the necklace to us? That necklace belonged to someone very dear to Tenerie who asked her to get it before he died. She has been looking for it for a long time all over the place and she has gone through a lot just to get that necklace. Please give it back to her. I'll do anything you want if you do." She pleaded. Tenerie was touched with the way Seiki was pleading for her and held her shoulders with a small smile.

"It's okay Seiki. You don't have to do it." The thief watched all this with cold indifference and crouched in front of Seiki to look straight at her.

"I must say this touching scene is really sweet and all but unfortunately for you I don't buy it. I've gone through a lot just to get the necklace too and I don't intend on giving it back that easily. So why don't you do your little act in front of someone who actually has the time for pity or compassion? Those two might do well." She said, gesturing to Yusuke and Kuwabara who were glaring angrily at the thief. She patted her head and stood up to leave. Hiei silently followed without saying anything to the others.

switch scene

"This is really annoying Konema! We should just kick her butt and steal the necklace back from her." Yusuke told him as he paced around his home. The spirit ruler was standing before everyone with a slight frown on his face.

"I don't like how this is going too Yusuke but we can't do much to her unless she tells us where she's keeping the necklace or she hands them over herself. All we can do now is wait and pray that those magic-weilding youkais won't catch them before we get the necklace." Konema replied. Seiki was sniffing lightly in the background while being comforted by Tenerie. Everyone else couldn't say or do anything else and left the conversation there. During the silence, they heard a few explosions coming from outside Yusuke's apartment. Kurama stood up and narrowed his eyes in concentration as his senses percieved his surroundings. He turned to the rest with a worried look on his face.

"I sense youkais with the same energy as Tenerie's. Hiei's energy is there as well." Kuwabara sensed it too and voiced out his agreement to Kurama's statement. Yusuke smiled excitedly, punching his fist in his hand and warming himself up for another fight.

"We better hurry before Hiei steals all the fun from us." He said. So everyone hurriedly ran downstairs and out of the apartment to see a group of magicians attacking Hiei and the thief. Hiei tried to attack the magicians but he couldn't reach them with all the attacks flying towards him. The thief couldn't attack them as well and spent her time avoiding the fireballs and the other attacks.

"Hiei!" Kurama cried worriedly as the fire apparition was blown away by a volley of fireballs. Hiei fell to the ground and gave a small groan as he tried to stand up again, using his katana to push himself up. He turned his head to Konema and the others and widened his eyes as the youkais blew up the electric post beside them.

"Watch out!" He shouted. The party looked up and quickly moved away from the falling post. But another youkai threw another attack, hitting Tenerie and Seiki and keeping them from moving away. The thief stopped evading when she saw what they were planning and ran as fast as she could towards the two women. She jumped and pushed Tenerie then took Seiki in her arms and backed away just in time as the post crashed to the ground and destroyed a car that had been parked there.

Seiki had closed her eyes and was trying to brace the pain when she felt herself being lifted from the ground. When she opened her eyes she saw the thief and realized that she had saved her again. She was about to open her mouth when her eye caught a silver glint. She looked for it and smiled when she saw the silver chain hanging around the thief's neck.

_There it is! She's been wearing it all this time._

Seiki reached out and snatched the necklace from the thief before she was placed down or before the thief began noticing her. The woman quickly felt it and looked down as the little girl wriggled away from her.

"Hey come back here! Give that back! This isn't funny." She shouted as she ran after Seiki. Some of the youkais saw what Seiki had done and chased after her as well. Seiki began to feel scared as she ran away from the battle. No one had noticed her, being too busy fending off the other youkais so this time, she was on her own. Tears began to fall from her eyes as she was chased down the road. One of the youkais threw another attack, hoping to slow the little girl down. But a shield had suddenly appeared around her and blocked the attack easily.

Seiki looked over her shoulder and saw that it was only the youkais chasing her down. She wondered if the youkais had caught up with the thief and had killed her or something. But that thought was interrupted when she tripped over a crack on the road and fell down. She immediately rolled around and began backing away as the youkais slowly walked towards her.

"Give us the necklace little ningen. We'll spare your life if you do." One of the youkais said. Seiki hugged the silver chain closer to her and shook her head.

"No! This belongs to Tenerie and only she deserves to get it."

"That's where you're wrong Seiki." A voice answered. Everyone frantically looked around for the source of the voice. Seiki felt a very familiar note to the sound and realized that it was the thief's own voice as she looked up at one of the roofs. The thief jumped down from the roof and landed on the ground, swinging her arms sharply to the side. Along with her action a huge wind pressure suddenly appeared and blew the youkais away by surprise. She then rushed to Seiki and took her away from the road.

Seiki was stunned with what she saw. Despite being young she knew that there was no wind strong enough to blow away youkais alone. She had seen the action the thief made before it had happened. It was as if the thief had control over the wind. She wanted to ask her how she did it, who she was, why she wanted the necklace. But she felt herself struggling with the waking world as her body grew weaker and weaker by the minute, the effects of the recent battle exhausting her.

"Take it easy kid." The thief said as she continued running. "You're safe now. I'm not going to hurt you. You can relax and sleep while I send you to your friends." She added. Seiki felt safe and protected in the thief's arms and was compelled to do as she was told. She hugged the chain closer to her, making sure that it was still there before she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

switch scene

Far from Ningenkai, somewhere within the heart of Makkai, there was a dark figure living in a large unoccupied castle. This dark man was tall, thin with a muscular body and broad shoulders. He had short dark grey hair and cold purple eyes that brought fear to those who looked at it. He had everything he would ever want within his reach. And this was all because of his great powers. So far he has the alliance of quite a few strong, useful villages such as Tarleina. Youkais were crawling to him like bees to honey. Everything was going according to plan. But there was something that was keeping him from progressing. And that was his lack of the Sorcerer's necklace.

It was important for him to find at least one of them. As soon as he found one, looking for the rest would not be as hard. He needed the necklaces. He needed the gems that were hanging on the silver chains. He needed them in order to fulfill a dream that was made a long time ago. A dream that began with his father, who had passed away during the Magician's War. He cursed the Sorcerers and Sorceress for depriving him of his parents and vowed to get his revenge someday.

He has been sending youkais to Ningenkai for quite a while now and so far none of them had come back, probably killed while they were on their errand. Then he decided to send in the amateur Dark Magicians that he has been training and found that they were killed as well. He had just send in the recent batch of Dark Magicians and was relieved to find survivors. But what they reported to him was not good.

One of his faithful servants entered his chambers one day merely planning to clean up his room. But the master of the castle had other plans as he interrupted the servant from his work.

"Send in Sir Lucas and tell him I need to speak with him immediately." He demanded. The servant had no choice but to oblige and nodded profusely, afraid of disappointing the master.

"Yes, yes, at once, my Lord." The said servant hurriedly ran from the room in order to seek Sir Lucas who was training Dark Magicians outside at the time. After relaying the message to the captain the servant ran off to do some other chores he had. Sir Lucas casually walked through the long halls into the master's chamber where he found the Lord standing before the window, looking at the wonderful view.

"You called my Lord?" He stated, greeting the man with a low bow. The Lord turned around and had a content smile that never reached his eyes as he began walking back into the darkness of the room.

"Your amateur Dark Magicians have failed me once again Sir Lucas. I am wasting my time standing here and waiting for you to make something out of them when I could have gone there and gotten the necklace myself. Please tell me you have good news for me today." The Lord told him, the smile never leaving his face. Sir Lucas nodded in reply.

"My Lord, I have decided to send in the older and stronger Dark Magicians if you permit me to do so. Based on their reports, the Dark Magicians have encountered the Spirit Ruler's men and a mysterious ningen woman who has strange powers as well." Sir Lucas explained. "As much as I hate to admit it, we have no other option." He added. The Lord pondered on it and waved a hand after a while.

"Do it. But send in only four of your best team. I do not wish to wipe out my army on such trivial errands." Sir Lucas nodded and bowed once more before leaving the room. The Lord stood where he was and took a glass of wine that was left on a table, sipping it slowly with his lips. He placed back the wineglass and gave a small chuckle that turned into a soft laugh.

"In time father. In time I shall bring you back to life and give you the revenge you so longed for."

switch scene

When Seiki opened her eyes she found herself surrounded by everyone she had met this past few days who were looking at her worriedly. She sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes as Tenerie rubbed her head lovingly.

"Seiki! Thank goodness you're alright. We thought something had happened to you. Tells us what happened to you and how you came here." She said. Seiki looked around and found herself lying on grass at the park. The sun was setting now, casting its soft yellow-red glow on the leaves and the sky. Yusuke, Kuwabara and Kurama all looked tired and battle-worn, with their clothes ripped up at some parts and their bodies covered with splotches of youkai's blood. Hiei looked just as dirty but still stood with the usual cold arrogance. Whether he was just as tired was impossible to know with his equally cold and expressionless face.

"Well, I remember being saved by that woman...then I saw the necklace hanging around her neck. I took it from her and began running away. Other youkais were chasing me too. They were about to get to me when..." At this the little girl tried to recall what happened next. But it was all a blur to her now and she could barely remember the next event. "The thief saved me...I forgot how but she did. Then while she was carrying me away I fell asleep. When I woke up I found myself looking at all of you."

"I see...where is the necklace now?" Seiki widened her eyes as she began feeling around her for the necklace. It wasn't with her anymore. Obviously everyone knew what had happened to it and where it was now. Seiki frowned and looked down, feeling so helpless and so useless to her newfound friends.

"Go after her Hiei, just like we planned. We have to keep an eye on her now especially after what happened here today." Konema said. Hiei gave a curt nod and disappeared from everyone's eyes in a flash. The spirit ruler turned to the others next.

"Keep an eye on things here as well. We're going to take Tenerie and Seiki with us back to Rekai to protect them from any other youkais who plan on chasing them." As he said this Botan took out her oar and hopped on it, motioning for the other two to ride with her as well. Konema nodded to them and followed Botan as they began flying up to the sky. Kurama turned to the others with a weary sigh.

"What a weekend it has been. We better go back to our homes and get a good rest then. We have to go to school tomorrow." He reminded the other two, who weren't as enthusiastic as Kurama was about it. They said their goodbyes and began walking to their own homes. Kurama walked slowly, thinking about the events that had passed for the past few days. Everything was going too fast, and he needed time to take it all in. He gave a soft sigh as he reached the door to his house and entered, evading his mother and keeping her from seeing the state he was in.

_Hopefully tomorrow will bring a brighter day for everyone._


	7. Chapter 6

Author's Note: I'm glad a few reviewed for the previous chapter! But I was hoping for more reviews. Ah well. We can't all get what we want. Still haven't checked the stats so I don't know if a lot of people read the fic or not. Anywhoo, here's the next chapter. Hope you like it and please R&R for me!

**Chapter 6 - Dark Magicians Fight Back**

The thief arrived back at the forest that night and was about to endure a long lecture about obedience from the golden brown falcon. Being tired as she was though, she put it off for the next day, sleep invading all of her thoughts at the time. She sat down on one of the branches and lowered her head, her breath slowing down at a peaceful, relaxed pace. She woke up the next day and found her black wolf curled up below the tree. She jumped down and rubbed its back before walking to the river and splashing water onto her face.

"So, are you ready to listen to my lecture now?" Fal asked as he fluttered onto a rock near her. The thief gave a heavy sigh and wordlessly jumped into the river without taking her clothes off, the cool water refreshing her and rejuvenating her. Fal stayed where he was and began to scold her as the thief came up to the surface of the water and swam around.

"I told you to forget about the youkai and leave him alone. But no, you wouldn't listen to me. And because of that you placed yourself in danger and almost had to reveal yourself to them. Imagine what would have happened if those youkais realized who you really were. You would just be presenting yourself to the enemy on a silver platter. If you left him alone like I told you to, none of that would have had to happen." The thief stopped swimming and glared at the falcon.

"It's over alright Fal? There's no use dwelling in the past. I didn't reveal myself, I didn't get caught, I still have the necklaces with me and I didn't present myself to the enemy on a silver platter. And besides, even if I didn't go after him, even if the youkai named Hiei didn't bring me to Konema, those darn youkais would still have gone for me because I have the necklace in my possession." She snapped. She got up from the water and stood there while a sudden gust of wind appeared and mysteriously dried her up.

"He's here." The falcon whispered before jumping up from the rock and flying away. But someone who was hiding among the shadows of the trees jumped out and quickly caught the bird in his grip before landing softly on the ground. Hiei stood up from his position and pointed his katana at the thief with his free hand. The thief was shocked but never moved from her place and returned the glare he was giving her, the muscles in her body tensing up in caution. She knew that she had to be careful with him. If she took one wrong step in dealing with him she would be dead.

"Just who the hell are you baka?" He asked her. This time the thief wasn't surprised with his question and continued to glare at him in anger. The fact that a katana was aimed inches from her was not a very comforting and relaxing idea.

"I'm no one special. Just an average bakka ningen who steals for a living." The thief replied, a smirk slowly growing on her face. Hiei growled and pushed the point of the sword closer to her. Now all it took was another push and the katana would go right through her chest.

"I'm not playing games with you today onna." He spat the last word at her, letting her know that he knew her secret. The smirk never left the thief's face despite that. "You're not a ningen. You're a youkai. I've been keeping an eye on you ever since I met you here in the forest. Your too strong and too fast for a normal ningen. And I can't sense any energy in you, not even the slightest bit of living energy. But while we were fighting near the detective's place I finally sensed your energy for a minute or so. Imagine my surprise when I sensed that it wasn't like any normal ningen's or youkai's. It was exactly the same as Tenerie's energy and the energy of those magic-wielding youkais. You better tell me who you are or this sword is going through you and out." He threatened.

"I guess there's no point trying to keep it from you now. At least you're not one of them. Maybe things will be better this way." The thief said as she gave a defeated sigh. "I really should have listened to you back then huh?" She added with a soft chuckle. Hiei raised an eyebrow and was shocked when the bird in his hand replied.

"That's right. Glad to have stuffed that through your thick-headed skull."

"Alright Hiei. You want to know who I really am?" She stated rather than asked as she opened a portal below her and disappeared into it. Hiei was taken aback, having no time at all to react to what she did and whirled his head around as he heard another portal open, revealing the thief as she landed on the ground away from him and his katana. She stood up and turned her gaze back at him with an arrogant smile on her face.

"I am something like those youkais you faced. But I'm neither on their side nor on yours at the moment. My name is Derea, and as you guessed, I'm a Magician."

switch scene

Four youkais stayed hidden in the shadows and watched as the school bell rang and everyone began walking out of the building. They weren't sure where the necklace is but from what they've heard from the amateur Dark Magicians, the spirit ruler's men might know something about its whereabouts. And that's what they were doing then. Watching from afar as Kurama came out of the school's main building together with some of his classmates.

They watched the kistune conversing with the students for a few minutes and after waving goodbye to them, headed for the front gate of the school. They moved along the shadows in Kurama's pacing, keeping a close eye on him wherever he went. Kurama said a few words to the other students who rushed up to him then began running past them and away from his home. Still the four Dark Magicians followed.

Kurama was walking past houses and went into an apartment, Yusuke's apartment to be specific. They watched the kitsune enter and stayed where they were to wait for his reappearance. Kurama at the time had already sensed the four youkais and knew that they were part of the same group they had faced recently. He went into the house Yusuke was living in and was ushered to his room by Atsuko, Yusuke's mother. Kuwabara and Yusuke greeted him as he entered and remained standing admist the huge mess of magazines, comic books, homeworks, clothes and Yusuke's other personal items.

"Have you two sensed any weird energies as I arrived?" He asked them. Yusuke shrugged but Kuwabara was nodding at Kurama in agreement.

"Yeah I sensed them arrive a few minutes before you did. If my senses are right-which of course they always are-there are four youkais outside." He answered. Kurama walked towards the windows and opened the curtains, pretending to look below at the road when in fact, he was searching for the source of the energies.

"They're hiding among those trees on the other side. I'm not sure where they're hiding specifically but they're close. Not only that, I sense that these Dark Magicians are stronger than the ones we've dealt with before. We might get into a lot of trouble if these magicians are here to fight against us." Yusuke stood up from his bed and punched his fist into his other hand. His body was aching to get some action similar to that of the previous day.

"I don't care how strong they are or how many they are out there. I'm going to kick each and every one of their butts and I'm going to make them regret fighting with us!" Yusuke said. Kurama sighed incredulously at Yusuke's blunt confidence and closed the curtains to keep the Dark Magicians from seeing what they were doing.

"We'll see what happens when we leave your apartment and head for somewhere isolated and free of innocent passers by. Just pretend that you haven't realized their presence and follow me." Kurama told them. Kuwabara and Yusuke nodded as they all walked out of the room after the kitsune. After letting Yusuke's mother know they were going out, they left the apartment and walked through the streets to pretend to still be looking for the necklace. The afternoon was quickly passing by and soon it was going to become dark; a good time for the four youkais to make their move. They never stopped following Kurama and the others and kept an eye on each one whenever they went separate ways for a while.

After all that walking around, Kurama and the others stopped to take a rest at a dark alley in between two abandoned homes. The four Dark Magicians immediately took the opportunity to attack and jumped out from their hiding places, throwing fireballs at the three who knew what was going to happen and jumped away from harm just in time. Kurama was the first to recover and took out a rose that he manipulated to change into a thorny, sharp whip. He looked at one of the youkais and narrowed his eyes at them.

"Tell me, are you here for the necklace as well? Or maybe you're after Tenerie and Seiki this time." Kurama asked.

"Our concern is not with the names of these people you speak of. Our only concern is where you're hiding the Sorcerer's necklace. Tell us where you're hiding it and we shall spare your lives for today." One of the Dark Magicians said.

"What are you going to do with the necklace once you get your hands on it?" Kuwabara asked the youkais. They stayed silent and steady, poised to fight. Kuwabara glared at them and raised his fist threateningly at them. "Come on! Answer my question or you're going to get it. What are you going to do with the necklace?" They still wouldn't answer him and merely looked back at all of them, inspecting them one by one in a cool and cold manner. Kurama tightened his grip on his whip and spread his legs apart, preparing to jump and lash out at one of them. He knew that trying to avoid fighting with them was useless now.

"You're going to have to try and force it out from us because we're not telling you where it is." Yusuke answered for the others. The youkai he spoke to turned to face his other accomplices and nodded to them. Together, they created multitudes of sharp blades from out of nowhere and aimed it all at the three. Kuwabara gulped nervously as he watched each silver blade reflect the slowly falling sun's light on them.

"Very well. You leave us no choice but to do as you suggested. Prepare to die!"

switch scene

Hiei continued to keep a close eye on the thief as she went about the forest, taking fruits and other edible foods from the trees and the shrubs and talking to her falcon from time to time. Hiei was introduced to Derea's black wolf who was named Yuuko (and who actually knew how to speak) but they didn't talk to each other much, seeing as the wolf always left its master's side to hunt food for itself. Derea didn't mind that as long as Yuuko came back when she needed its assistance.

Neither Hiei nor Derea spoke to each other after Derea told him who she really was. There were still a lot of questions in Hiei's mind but he didn't bother asking them, not wanting to be asked questions after she answered some of his. From time to time Derea would ask him if he wanted some share of the food and Hiei would always answer "no". And since Hiei knew her secret, Derea freely did magic in front of him. The fire apparition watched with keen interest and curiosity as the thief lifted objects in the air, threw fireballs into a campfire she made and played with her magic when she was bored. He had even watched her shapeshift into a series of creatures, ending with a bird that flew excitedly up into the air.

The day was finally coming to an end. Hiei leaned on the tree trunk as Derea sat down on one of the branches above him. Together, they watched the sun set behind the mountains peacefully. There was something that kept nagging on Hiei's mind as he watched the spectacle of nature before him. He didn't want to ask Derea about it at first, but the curiosity was becoming too much even for him.

_A few questions wouldn't hurt...if she does become too annoying I can just tell her to shut up._

"Why didn't you want Konema to know who you really were or why you wanted the necklace? What would you have gotten from keeping all these knowledge from the others?" He asked. Derea didn't answer him at first and just continued to watch the setting sun. Then after taking a deep breath, she answered.

"I won't get anything from not telling any of you. In fact, I had a harder time trying to get the necklace when your friends kept interrupting me. But that way, none of you would get hurt or worse, get killed. You guys are not supposed to be involved in all this. You just hopped in without knowing what you were doing or why you were doing it. One of the biggest reasons I didn't want any of you to know is that you'll only be in my way. I have and will keep on fighting against youkais who can weild magic like myself. You've experienced what it was like facing the amateurs. Imagine what would have happened if you had dealt with the stronger youkais." She explained. "I don't need you guys giving me more trouble than I already have. That's why I'm trying to find a way to throw Konema and the rest away from this fight without letting them know my true purpose and without letting them acquire the curiosity to find out what that purpose is."

Hiei had to admit that she was right. The others had a really rough time trying to kill the youkais who were equipped with their magic and shields and all. If they decided to help out Derea, they would only be slowing her down. He knew that he on the other hand wasn't planning to voluntarily involve himself in all this without getting something valuable in return. It was useless and meaningless to do otherwise.

Derea grew silent once more to Hiei's relief. He watched her close her eyes for a moment before she looked beyond the horizion in deep concentration. He didn't care why she suddenly grew quiet and was glad of it too but something pricked in his mind when he saw Derea's lips curl into a frown. While he watched her, he noticed that some of the strands of her hair were magically shining brightly even though the sun's rays weren't reflecting on her.

"Your physical appearance...the color of your hair and the color of your eyes...they're not your real ones are they? You just shapeshifted into something that wouldn't scare off the ningens." He told her. Derea looked at him and nodded.

"Yeah that's right...if I walked around Ningenkai looking like I usually do people would freak out and know that I'm not normal." She replied. Then she watched him for a few more seconds and raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Would you like to see my real form?" Hiei took his gaze off her with a snort and a very slight, embarrassed blush.

"Do whatever you want. I could care less if you shapeshifted into the detective or that dimwitted ningen Kuwabara." He said. Derea was still smiling in amusement as she stretched her muscles and gave a huge yawn as if preparing her body for action.

"Ah well. Whether you did want to see my real form or not wouldn't matter anymore anyways." Hiei looked at her in confusion as she stood up on the branch. "Something's come up and we have to move now before things get chaotic over there." Hiei glared at her impatiently.

"What the hell are you blabbering about onna?" He growled. Fal flew down on Derea's shoulder and having a larger amount of patience than the fire apparition did, kindly asked the magician what was going on before Hiei and Derea broke into a fight.

"Your friends are in the city, having a row with the Dark Magicians again. It doesn't look good for them though. The energies I sense in this batch of youkais are stronger than those you fought with before." She explained. "Whoever is controlling those Dark Magicians must be desperate to get the necklace now. I better go there and help them out before they really get killed." Hiei widened his eyes in surprise and didn't notice Derea hopping off the branch.

_She could sense that all the way here? The city must be a thousand miles away! Even I could barely sense energies this far. This must be the power of a magician._

"So are you coming with me to the city?" She asked, looking at him expectantly as a portal appeared in front of her. When Hiei didn't move, she narrowed her eyes at him. "I'm not going to send you to hell or to a place where you'll get killed if that's what you're thinking. And I can't go first to prove myself to you because it will disappear as soon as I enter it. So either you're going to trust me and go in or you stay here and miss all the fun. You can walk if you want though, I'm sure you have enough strength to run all the way to the city."

Without a reply, Hiei casually walked towards the portal. Derea's eyes followed him and rolled as he went past her with an expressionless, proud face. Then when he disappeared into the portal, Yuuko rushed past her and entered the portal as well before she, together with Fal who was still on her shoulder, followed after them.

scene switch

Yusuke, Kuwabara and Kurama were having a rough time trying to deal with the four Dark Magicians. They could barely evade the blades and the fireballs that the Dark Magicians threw at them. After an hour passed, Yusuke and his friends were battered and weary while the opponent on the other hand looked as if they never fought or moved a finger.

"This is getting us nowhere!" Yusuke cried as he evaded yet another blade that came diving down at him. Kurama moved right beside him then, their backs against each other. "Kurama, any bright lifesaving suggestions?" He asked the kitsune. Kurama's lips frowned deeper as he kept a close eye on one of the Dark Magicians.

"I'm as lost as you are Yusuke. Unless a miracle happens the three of us are going to be dead in a few more minutes of battling." Kurama told him. Yusuke groaned and jumped away as another batch of fireballs and blades rained upon them. Kuwabara failed to dodge in time and fell to the ground as two blades stabbed one of his legs and one of his arms, pinning him to the floor. Yusuke and Kurama stood still as they helplessly watched Kuwabara cry out in pain. The Dark Magicians were circling Kuwabara then, giving the other two no time to save their ningen friend.

"Tell us where the necklace is or your friend dies." One of the Dark Magicians threatened as he made a silver blade appear in mid-air, aiming it at Kuwabara. Yusuke clenched his hands into fists, shaking them slightly in his anger.

"Damn it! Can't we do something? Anything at all?" He shouted to no one in particular. Kuwabara lay on the cemented ground, his body too weak to move. His eyes staring fearfully at the sharp, pointy blade that was uncomfortably too close to him. Yusuke growled softly to himself as he helplessly stood there.

_We're in a really tight situation here. If we don't tell them where the necklace is, Kuwabara's dead meat. But we can't tell them about the woman who knows where it is. If they get their hands on the woman and that necklace Konema's going to kill me. What am I supposed to do now...?_

"Enough stalling. Tell us where it is now." The youkai demanded. The blade drew closer to Kuwabara and he began to back away, screaming colorful words at everyone. Yusuke immediately opened his mouth and prayed to God that something meaningful will come out but Kuwabara began to shout before Yusuke could say something.

"The necklace isn't with us! It's with the two women we were with! They have the necklace!" He cried involuntary. Yusuke and Kurama couldn't say anything further to take back what Kuwabara had said so they glared at the ningen instead. The blade stopped moving and retreated back a few meters away from Kuwabara to his relief. Yusuke and Kurama rushed towards Kuwabara and watched the four Dark Magicians gather into one circle and stare at each other in silence.

While this was happening, behind a large group of trees right across the alley Yusuke and the others were in, a large, swirling portal suddenly appeared. Hiei came out of this portal and landed gracefully onto the ground, followed by Yuuko and Derea with Fal still perched on her shoulder. Hiei looked around and found that he was indeed somewhere within the city and not somewhere life-threatening. He turned his gaze to Derea who was looking at the sky with a blank but focused stare. She noticed Hiei looking at her expectantly and pointed a finger past him, at the dark alley.

"They're further inside that alley. Nothing major is happening though. They're just standing there, probably speaking to each other." She said. Hiei gave a soft grunt and was about to walk across the street when Derea held his shoulder firmly. "You can't expect to go there and face those Dark Magicians in your state and win." She told him. The fire apparition glared at her, slapping her hand away from his shoulder.

"I don't need your stupid advise or your help onna. I can take care of myself." He snapped at her. Derea held a firm and calm gaze at Hiei and crossed her arms at him.

"Either you do it your way and end up dying without leaving a single scratch on those Dark Magicians, or..." At this a barrier enclosed Hiei and created an indestructive shield. Hiei touched the surface of the barrier curiously then looked at Derea who's lips curled into a mischievious smile. "...Or you swallow your pride for a few minutes and do it my way. The choice is yours koorime. What will it be?"

"Come on! Make up your minds already! Are you going to let us go or are you going to further annoy us with your hocus-pocus magic?" Yusuke shouted angrily at the Dark Magicians while Kurama tried his best to heal Kuwabara's injuries with what they had at the moment. The youkais were taking too long in deciding and Yusuke was beginning to sense something bad in the air. Kurama sighed at Yusuke and shook his head to himself.

_You should not have provoked them like that Yusuke...you'll only makeour situationworse._ The kitsune thought. The Dark Magicians either finished their discussion or were indeed insulted by Yusuke's angry outburst because after Yusuke had said that, they looked at them once more and together they aimed a big number of blades at them.

"We are grateful for your information ningen and we are sad to see you all die such a terrible fate. But our orders are to eliminate possible threats and that is what you are." Yusuke gritted his teeth and clenched his fists tightly as Kuwabara began to scream and attempted to plead with the youkais. But the Dark Magicians ignored him and the three could do nothing but watch as the blades began to dive for them.

_Don't tell me this is how I'm going to die; fighting stupid youkais for a stupid baby ruler! This is even worse than saving that kid with the soccer ball._

There was nothing else Yusuke could say or do as the blades drew closer. Yusuke turned away, closed his eyes and braced himself for the pain that was to come. But a few seconds later he heard the youkais fighting with a mysterious stranger, then a scream together with the sound of spluttering liquid. He could hear Kuwabara sighing heavily with relief and he could hear the smile in Kurama's voice as he spoke to someone in front of them. "Well, well, well. What a pleasant surprise. I didn't think you'd come here to help us out." He said. The voice of the man who replied was so cold, so monotoned, so familiar that Yusuke didn't even need to open his eyes to know who it was.

"You're a pathetic sight to behold detective. Closing your eyes when facing danger is a sign of cowardice. But then again this is you we're talking about. You're nothing but a weakling who's life runs solely on luck." Yusuke finally opened his eyes and glared at the short man before him.

"Just who do you think you are, coming here all high and mighty then criticizing us when you didn't even help!" Hiei smirked at him and motioned with his head to the Dark Magicians who were now lying on the ground in their own pools of blood. Yusuke could only gape at the sight as the fire apparition turned his attention to Kurama.

"What did they ask from you?" He asked him.

"They were searching for the necklace and thought that we knew where it was." Kurama explained. Then he turned to face Kuwabara with a frown. "We tried to fight them off. But Kuwabara was caught in a tight situation and suddenly cried out that Tenerie and Seiki have the necklace." Kuwabara winced at the stare and raised his hands up in defense.

"Hey it wasn't my fault! How would you feel if a blade was pointed right in your face? And besides, they're being protected by Konema in Rekai. Nothing's going to happen to them as long as they stay there."

"So tell us Hiei..." Yusuke said, looking at Hiei then at the corpses in curiosity. "How _did_ you manage to kill them off that easily?" Hiei turned around and was about to explain when he saw that Derea had disappeared from sight. He frantically looked around and growled softly to himself when he realized she was gone.

_Damn that onna! Where the hell did she go?_

"Hey guys!" Botan cried as she hovered above the ground on her oar. Kuwabara almost jumped with fright and was shouting angrily at the grim reaper when Hiei told him to shut up. Kurama walked closer to Botan and smiled politely.

"Hello there Botan. What are you doing here in Ningenkai?" He asked.

"I'm here with Tenerie and Seiki! They asked me to take them to the inn they were staying at so they can get some of their clothes...Why are you all looking at me like that?" She asked worriedly when she saw everyone's reaction to what she said. Yusuke took Kuwabara by his shirt collar and started shaking him angrily.

"You idiot! Look what your clumsiness did!" He shouted. Botan still couldn't understand what was happening and sat on her oar cluelessly. Hiei turned knowingly to Kurama who nodded in return. With that signal, Hiei jumped onto one of the houses and began to run through the rooftops towards the inn he knew Tenerie and Seiki were staying at. Kurama stopped the fight and turned to Botan with a troubled look on his face.

"We better go to where Tenerie and Seiki are right now. If we don't arrive there in time I'm afraid you won't be taking anyone back to Rekai today."

switch scene

Tenerie and Seiki were glad to find the room at the inn they were staying at unoccupied and their things still in tact. Tenerie hurriedly gathered her travelling bag, made sure she didn't leave anything behind and was about to leave the room together with Seiki when the door magically closed before them. All the windows suddenly shut closed and the curtains were drawn together, blinding them in darkness. Then, they heard a soft chuckle that echoed around the room and slowly turned into a cold laugh. Seiki hugged herself closer to Tenerie with fright as a man came out of the shadows with an evil smile on his face.

"Hello there ladies. I heard that you have the Sorcerer's Necklace with you. Give it to me and I'll consider sparing your lives." He demanded. Tenerie placed an arm around Seiki in a protective embrace and glared at the man in front of them.

"We don't have it and even if we did we wouldn't give it to you!" She said. The man sighed regretfully and shook his head slowly with a smile on his face, as if he was having a funny conversation with someone they couldn't see and hear.

"It's such a shame. Very well. If you won't give it to me then I shall be forced to exterminate you." He raised his arm as a fireball hovered on his hand. Tenerie quickly built a barrier around her and Seiki and prayed that it would hold the attack. But as she watched the fireball head for them, all the doors and windows suddenly flew open, a strong breeze rushed in, putting out the fire, and the man was thrown back with such force that he put a dent on the wall behind him. Tenerie and Seiki turned their heads around and saw the thief standing by the door with narrowed eyes. She entered the room with confident strides and looked at them.

"Don't you two ever learn from your mistakes? You should have never left the Spirit Ruler's protection." She scolded. Then she turned her gaze to the man and lifted him up into the air with a gesture of her hand. Tenerie and Seiki widened their eyes at her in shock and amazement. They never thought the woman they were looking at now would possess powers like the magicians. Derea walked closer to the man and looked at him closely. The man smiled at her to her surprise and threw something similar to a smoke bomb in between them. Derea was taken aback and began to move away from the man, coughing and rubbing her eyes because of the cloud that suddenly enveloped her. All of a sudden, her body grew limp and she fell on her knees to the ground. She tried as much as she could to stand up but she found that she couldn't. She felt like her whole body turned to lead and was being pulled down by something or someone.

And to her surprise, she felt her whole form slowly shift into another human shape. Tenerie and Seiki both watched with shock as the woman's body fell apart and reassembled itself into a whole new look. The woman's structure was still basically the same; short, thin and muscular, but her hair has dramatically changed from a shiny black to an even shininer silver-blue. The same hair color of the mysterious stranger who had saved the two women last Saturday. Derea looked at the man with her silver eyes and glared at him.

"What the...hell is this...!" She managed to cry out as she struggled with herself. The man recovered his composure and casually walked towards Derea. Derea tried to do something, anything to get away from the man but found that she couldn't even lift her hand without using every ounce of her energy. The man chuckled at her.

"It's no use trying to struggle. The bomb was made to paralyze a person's body temporarily. I even added a little tweak to it. Now it also nullifies a magician's powers. That's the reason you can't use your magic on me now and that's the reason you're shapeshifting powers have been blocked." He explained. This time he was the one who lifted her from the ground and examined her. As he looked at her, realization dawned on him and he gave out a short, sinister laugh.

"What a surprise this is! The last time I saw you, you were just a young, weak and naive child. My, how much you've grown since then. I see you're doing quite well without your superiors hovering about you like flies." He told her.

"I see you're doing pretty well for yourself too Lucas." Derea replied to him with a sarcastic tone dripping in her voice. "What happened? Don't tell me you're still following orders. Who is the big boss this time? I bet he or she's got a leash on you like a lowly mutt." She taunted him. The man named Lucas glared at her in answer and slapped her face with the back of his hand. Derea winced and could feel the stinging pain on her reddening cheek as she turned her head back to face him. Tenerie watched this exchange of words with a blank look on her face. The thought that was running through her mind was of an entirely different topic.

_She knows how to shapeshift...that's a very high level of magic that no ordinary magician could do without years and years of practice. Lord Ronel also mentioned that all of the Sorcerers and Sorceress knew how to do it with ease. Does that mean that she's one of them?_

"What's the matter Lucas?" Derea asked, her voice weak and strained. "Don't tell me the cat got your tongue? Or perhaps your master ordered you to shut up and follow his orders like a good doggy." She added with a forced smirk on her face. Lucas' anger flared even greater and this time he threw a punch to her guts. Derea doubled over as much as she could in her state and gave a soft groan.

"Enough talk! My orders were to kill you and the others of your kind. As soon as you're gone and I have the Sorcerer's necklace, nothing can stop my master from doing what he has worked hard for years. Finally, he will have the revenge he has longed so much for." He closed his hand around Derea's throat tightly as it begun to glow a soft light. Derea gasped and held Lucas' arm, struggling with the stronger man in vain. Lucas smiled at her and laughed menacingly. "Farewell Sorceress Derea. I am confident that we shall never see each other ever again."


	8. Chapter 7

Author's Note: I thank everyone who reviewed so far.(actually there were only about one, two reviews) I'm thankful for the encouragements. It really brightens my day and gives me reason to update my story. I'm working on the next chapter if you're all wondering and I really hope none of this twists and surprises confuse you. If you have questions about the story feel free to ask me. I'll answer them as much as I could. Thank you again and please read and review this chapter!

**Chapter 7 - Shocking Events**

"No! Leave her alone you big monster!" Seiki cried as dislodged herself from Tenerie's grasp to run up to Lucas and throw weak punches at him. Lucas looked down in irritation and was about to shove her away with one hand when Yuuko, the large black wolf, appeared from the shadows and bit onto Lucas' arm that had a grip on Derea's throat. The Dark Magician screamed painfully and released his grip of the Sorceress as he tried to shake the wolf free from his arm. Derea fell to the ground and gasped deeply for air.

Tenerie snapped out of her daze and rushed to Seiki's side, wrapping her arms protectively around the little girl and bringing her away from Lucas. As she moved away from the Dark Magician she felt a small tug on the side of her shirt and looked in that direction to find Derea's hand gripping the cloth tightly. The Sorceress half-crawled and half-dragged herself towards Tenerie, using as much of her strength as she could. The bomb was still affecting her strongly and has yet to subside.

"Let me...go into your mind." Derea managed to gasp out as she held her throat. Tenerie was surprised and confused at what she said. She couldn't understand what the Sorceress meant by the command.

"What...what do you mean?"

"JUST DON'T PUSH ME BACK AND BRACE YOURSELF!" She snapped impatiently. Before Tenerie could answer or reply, Derea's silver eyes changed into black ones and glowed. She watched the glowing blackness of the Sorceress' eyes grow bigger and envelop her whole body until she could no longer see or hear anything from the outside world. For some strange reason, Tenerie wasn't terrified of the darkness. She actually felt relaxed and at peace in this strange abyss. She let herself float to nowhere and stared blankly at nothing and everything.

After what seemed to her like days, weeks, months even, she noticed a small spark of light beyond her vision. To Tenerie, looking at that light admist the darkness seemed like looking at the sun at its best; she couldn't get herself to look directly at the painfully blinding light. And without seeming to, Tenerie felt herself being led by an invisible force towards that light. As she got closer she saw that there was something on the other side of that darkness. What she saw surprised her and brought back little of the senses that she had.

On the other side of the darkness, walking about a beautiful well-tended to garden together with another young girl who had raven black hair and raven black eyes, was a smaller version of the person she came to know recently as Sorceress Derea. Both girls wore a long, beautiful gown made of expensive and delicate silk decorated with frilly laces and small beads. Tenerie thought the gowns seemed too grand and to extravagant to be normal attires for normal girls. The two young girls were chasing each other playfully about the leafy green bushes and the short spiky grass, past the large trees and the small blooming flowers, having a wonderful time under the bright cloudless sky. Tenerie watched as a man appeared from the large castle by the garden and approached the two girls eagerly. He was a gentle looking man, with shocking silver hair and dark brown eyes. He smiled as Derea and the other girl rushed to him and gave him hugs.

"Papa!"

_Papa..._

_Papa..._

"Paparaparaparaparap...doodedodedoodedodedoo...ladidamdidamdidamdidam..." The sound, despite it being irritating and giving reason for her head to throb painfully, gave her a sense of being alive. Tenerie forced her eyes to open slowly, trying to make out the shadows that invaded her vision and heard the sound of a loud smack followed by a noisy crash.

"Shut up! You're going to give us all headaches..." Another voice ordered angrily. When Tenerie's sight finally cleared, she saw the looming figure of Derea with her hands curled into fists and raised threateningly at Kuwabara who was holding his head in pain on the ground beside a chair that was broken in half by his fall. Everybody else was sitting down on what seemed to be a number of couches. Tenerie felt the soft object she was lying on and found that it was one of the couches as well. Derea noticed the woman wake up and inspected her with a small smile.

"Hey there...are you alright?" She asked. "I apologize for what happened to you earlier. I only tried that trick 5 times and failed every time I tried to enter the person's body. I was both surprised and glad to find that the tricked worked this time but I wasn't sure of the possible after effects on the person I put the spell upon." She added. Tenerie slowly sat up from the couch and once she found that her head wasn't aching, turned to Derea.

"What happened? What's going on? Is Seiki alright? Where am I? How long have I been unconscious?"

"Whoah, take a deep breath and stop attacking me with questions for a moment." Derea joked, holding out her hands in defense as if Tenerie was aiming a weapon at her. "Question one; I took over your body for a short while to fight Lucas since my body was paralyzed at the time then I used my portal to send us to safety. Two, I brought the boys over when you and Seiki we're settled here and we're all just lounging around the house, waiting for you to wake up. Three, you're in my place. Four, you were fast asleep for the rest of the evening. It's already 10 in the morning if you're wondering what time it is." She answered. Seiki walked up to Tenerie and stared with wide, amazing eyes.

"She was awesome Tenerie! As soon as she got control of your body fireballs and these ice daggers suddenly came out of nowhere and attacked the big meanie! Then he was lifted up into the air like magic and then these weird things began wrapping themselves around him and tried to choke him to death! She was really strong!" Seiki ended, staring admirably at Derea. The Sorceress gave a small smile to her then turned a concerned look at Tenerie.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Derea asked her. "No side effects, no feeling of sickness, no vomiting urges, no nothing?"

"Except for the feeling of dizziness, I'm perfectly fine." Tenerie replied. Derea gave a sigh of relief then finally turned to the boys who were all looking at her expectantly.

"Alright, break time's up. Now explain to us who exactly are you and what the hell is going on here! Why are these Dark Magicians after the Sorcerer's Necklace that badly and what are those necklaces capable of?" Yusuke demanded. Derea gave a short glance at Hiei before turning her attention to the rest of the boys.

"Like I told Hiei, my name's Derea and I'm a magician. I'm the thief you all met before and yes, I still have the Sorcerer's necklace with me. Plus, I need them for reasons that you don't need to know so don't even bother asking." She added to Kuwabara before he could open his mouth. "And that's all you're going to hear from me. Kindly tell the Spirit Ruler that he won't need you to investigate on this matter further and tell him that I'm taking both Tenerie and Seiki under my care. That should make things easier for the toddler." Derea said with a smirk on her face.

"You can't just throw us out like some piece of garbage!" Yusuke shouted angrily. "And you can't tell us what we should or should not do. You're not the boss of us!" Kuwabara gave a shout of agreement and crossed his arms stubbornly. Derea sighed and closed her eyes while placing a hand in front of her face. Then she looked up with glowing black eyes and casually threw Kuwabara to the side with a wave of her hand before fixing the broken chair that the ningen fell on earlier.

"Fools. I'll ask the kistune to give my message to Konema then. I'm sure they'll understand it better than you two do." She said, turning her gaze to Kurama expectantly and ignoring Kuwabara's angry shouts and curses. The kitsune gave a small smile and nodded to her in reply. Derea smiled gratefully and with another wave of her hand sent Yusuke and Kuwabara into a portal that appeared under them, knowing fully well that neither of the two would go in peacefully. Yusuke and Kuwabara fell in quickly; their cries could be heard echoing throughout the room. Kurama stepped up to the portal and looked at Derea respectfully.

"I'm sure Konema will understand and will be glad to stay away from your business as long as nothing bad happens. But if you do need the Spirit Ruler's help or our help you're welcome to come to us anytime." He told her. Derea nodded to him.

"Thank you kistune."

"Please call me Kurama."

"Then thank you Kurama." The kistune smiled and waved goodbye before hopping into the portal. The last person to enter was Hiei who took one quick glance at each of the girls first before wordlessly entering the portal himself. Derea closed the portal she created and gave a huge sigh of relief, glad that things were beginning to calm down, before turning her attention to Tenerie. "Sometimes I just wish that time would freeze itself to let me take a rest even just for a day or two." She said jokingly.

"What happened to that man you were fighting against? Lucas was his name wasn't it?" Tenerie asked her.

"He's still alive if that's what you meant to ask." Derea replied. "I exhausted your body to the point that I had to go back to my own you see, and it gave him enough time to escape from us."

"So you really are Sorceress Derea...aren't you? You didn't tell the boys who you were but that man named Lucas addressed you as one of the Sorceress." Tenerie stated more than asked. Without letting her reply, she handed to her the letter that Ronel passed down to her before he died.

"This came from Lord Ronel. He told me to look for you and to give it to you when I meet you." Tenerie explained. Derea took it from her and unfolded it, her eyes scanned the writing quickly before a chuckle escaped from her lips.

"Ronel you old coot...you never did let anything ruin your fun. Always breaking the rules along my side." She muttered to herself with a small sad smile on her face. Then she paused to give respect to the Sorcerer before going back into what needed to be discussed. As much as she would like to mourn and grieve for one of her oldest friends in the Magician's Clan, time was not on their side.

"Alright, there are some important things that I have to do so you and Seiki have to stay here on your own. As you noticed, there are no doors in this "house" so you don't need to worry about Dark Magicians or youkais. There are books on those shelves," Derea pointed to a line of shelves filled with old, ancient looking books against one of the walls. "...that you might like to read while I'm gone. They're old textbooks that I managed to salvage from Kiyube before the War destroyed them. You can find lots of food in the refrigerator if you want to eat something and right through that door on your left is an extra room where you and Seiki can sleep in, in case I come home very late." She said as she opened a portal right in the middle of them.

"What are you doing to do?" Tenerie asked her curiously as she watched both Fal the falcon and Yuuko the black wolf enter the portal without another word.

"Something that I should have done from the moment I sensed what was happening..." Derea muttered before jumping into the portal herself. As soon as she was completely engulfed by the portal it disappeared into thin air. Tenerie was forced to sit there on the couch and ponder on the words Derea parted with.

switch scene

A portal appeared inside Konema's office without warning, causing the Spirit Ruler to jump in surprise and watch as Yusuke and Kuwabara both collapsed in front of his desk. Kurama and Hiei followed after, landing safely on the floor behind it. Botan entered the room at that moment and was about to say something to Konema when she gasped in surprise.

"Yusuke! Kurama! Hiei! Kuwabara! What is the meaning of this? How did you arrive here when I didn't call for you or asked Botan to get you?" Konema asked them. Yusuke stood up and rubbed his butt painfully before crossing his arms in anger.

"That damn witch sent us here without giving us a warning! I swear the next time I see her she's going to get her butt kicked so badly she'll regret the day she was born!"

"Witch? What on earth are you talking about?" Konema asked puzzlingly.

"He's reffering to a magician by the name of Derea who turned out to be the thief we met on Sunday sir." Kurama answered. "She told me to tell you that you don't need to investigate on this matter further and that she's going to take Tenerie and Seiki under her care from now on."

"She's just some hot shot, smug-looking, magic-wielding chick who just happened to defeat the Dark Magicians by luck..." Yusuke grumbled. "I don't understand why we're going along with her orders."

"Well she is a magician after all; surely she knows a lot more about the Dark Magicians than we do. She knows their weakness and their strengths and can use them to her advantage. Not to mention that she was strong enough to defend herself and save us from all those Dark Magicians who tried to attack us for the past few days." Kurama reasoned.

"Yeah, she's definitely stronger than the ningen or the detective combined." Hiei agreed with a smirk on his face. Konema at the time fell into deep thought at the mention of the name and was pondering to himself at its familiarity. A few minutes later he finally snapped out of his daze as realization dawned on him. He heard Hiei's last sentence and decided to catch their attention with a slam of his palms on the desk.

"Derea is without a doubt stronger than any pair of you combined!" He interrupted before Yusuke or Kuwabara could argue with Hiei. "She's probably even stronger than all of you put together." At this even Hiei glared at the Spirit Ruler.

"What the hell are you talking about Konema? She can't be stronger than I am!" Kuwabara cried. "That's just impossible!"

"Anything is possible if it's you we're talking about." Hiei mumbled with a small smile. Kuwabara glared at Hiei and was about to open his mouth when Kurama interjected.

"I must admit that she seems stronger than she looks sir, but you can't assume that she's stronger than any of us combined. Without any exaggeration implied Yusuke, Hiei, Kuwabara-yes even Kuwabara-and I are one of the strongest teams in the whole of Makkai." Kurama began. There was no hint of anger or irritation in his voice but he was skeptical about what Konema had said to them. "You recalled how we defeated the four gods as our first mission and how we won the Dark Tournament against the Toguro team a few years ago. They were one of the strongest youkais we've faced and yet we managed to become victor against all odds. Please explain to us how this young youkai can be even stronger than all of us because I for one could barely sense any energy in her."

"Yes, I remember all that and I'm greatly impressed with your courage and your strengths. I appreciate how you always gave your fullest effort and risked your lives for the good of all three worlds. But I am not taking back what I said. Her strength is and will always be far more superior than any of your powers put together. Perhaps, aside from a few existing people, she would be one of the strongest beings in the world." Konema said.

"Just who the hell is this woman!" Yusuke shouted angrily. "I think we deserve a far better explanation than that piece of crap you're giving us. For all we know, Kuwabara might even get the opportunity to fight her and win." Konema glared at him, angry at his lack of respect, and abruptly stood up from his desk.

"You want to know who this girl is? I'll tell you then! Do you remember the seven Magicians I mentioned who were the last of their kind? Well I met them before they went to the Dark Magician's hideout for the last battle and found out their identities. There were five men and two women in their group. Sorcerer Tolleni was the oldest, followed by Sorcerer Ronel, Sorcerer Olen, Sorcerer Falkean, Sorceress Livania, Sorcerer Eziekel, and the youngest of them all was Sorceress_ Derea_." The four men widened their eyes with shock as they heard Konema's explanation. The Spirit Ruler had a smug smile on his face as he said this to them. "That's right! You heard me. That woman you were just insulting a while ago was none other than Sorceress Derea; one of the greatest Magicians who risked their lives to save the entire world!"

switch scene

The house looked dusty, old and dirty from the outside. The dark black sky and the gloomy, isolated area fitted perfectly with the lonely cabin surrounded by the creepy swamp. Green vines crawled along the walls, entangling themselves along the cracks and the windows and molds of all sorts lived within the dark corners of the house. Vultures were circling hungrily around the house, looking for any piece of scrap meat that they could chew upon.

_**SPLASH!**_

_**SLOP!**_

"Damn it all! When I get my hands on him the first thing I'm going to tell him is to get a new house!" Derea muttered angrily to herself as she trudged along the murky water towards this haunted cabin. "I mean, come on! What kind of person chooses to live in a place like this?"

"Apparently the Sorcerer Tolleni kind." Fal, who was presently sitting on her shoulder, said and winced as Derea lifted one foot above the water and revealed a soaked, torn-up shoe that suddenly had a greenish-brownish color. "Maybe he has a perfectly good reason why he's hiding here deep in the swamps." He suggested.

"He better hope he does for his sake. Tell me again why I'm walking across this dirty, dangerous and creepy swamp just to meet some crazy senile old man who might not even be here."

"Because we need to see Sorcerer Tolleni and get the rest of the group together before they all get killed like Ronel did." Fal answered. Derea grumbled in defeat. It was her sole purpose in going through this walk in the first place. She knew this yet wanted someone to remind her this important errand before she decided to blow up in frustration and leave.

"Right...right...tell me something Fal; if you were an old man living in an isolated swamp like this with a perfectly logical, sane reason as to why, would you leave the door to your house wide open?" Derea asked the golden brown falcon while continuing to stare straight ahead of her.

"No, I don't think I like the thought of other creatures entering my house uninvited. I might even put up a barrier around it just to make sure no one gets in. Why do you ask?"

Fal didn't need to hear the answer because as Derea got closer to the house, they saw the door literally thrown off its hinges to the side. Even at a distance they could already see the chaos and the mess inside the house. Chairs and tables were tossed upside down, there were broken pieces of wood lying scattered about the floor where small creatures began living in. Holes decorated the walls from all sides and blood could be seen at almost every angle of the house.

"What on earth happened here?" Derea muttered in shock as she stared from the entrance at what used to be a perfectly neat little home. "Where did all this blood come from? Whose blood did this come from?" Before they could say anything further both Derea and Fal heard the small cry of a plea.

"Help me! Somebody!" They turned to the source of the sound and found something strange. There was a flock of vultures gathered at one corner of the house, trying to get something Derea couldn't see. She stepped further inside the house and frightened the birds with a small shot of a fireball. The vultures quickly flew away, their feathers flying all around her and leaving behind a small white rabbit that was trembling with fear. It was weak and beaten up badly, dried up blood stained its fluffy fur all over. Derea knelt down in front of the creature and gently cradled the rabbit in her arms. She petted it softly and whispered calming words to it but she couldn't get it to calm down.

"It's alright little one...no one's going to hurt you now. What's wrong? Tell me what happened?"

"It's too late...they're gone...it's all my fault! I should have protected him...it was supposed to be my role..." The rabbit cried. Derea turned her gaze to Fal and frowned upsettingly.

_Wasn't Sorcerer Tolleni's guardian supposed to be a large bear? What is this rabbit talking about?_

The falcon sensed the unasked question and silently urged her to continue her talk with the rabbit. Derea looked back at the small creature while nudging it gently with a finger. She didn't know if it would help, but it was better than doing nothing.

"Tell me, what's too late? Who's gone? What happened?"

"They were killed...killed by people who shouldn't exist anymore...they attacked them with magic and knocked them down. They tried to defend themselves but the enemy was too strong for them. And simply beating them wasn't enough for the enemy...no...they weren't satisfied with watching them die easily. They began to torture them both to death, slicing their body to pieces, splashing blood all over the house...I was supposed to be his guardian,; I was supposed to protect him from harm for as long as I live! But I couldn't do anything! Both he and I were too weak to fight back... none of us could defend ourselves against them...it's all my fault! I should have trained harder, made myself stronger than I was now." Derea's eyes widened and she stared at the rabbit intently.

"Who was killed? Tell me who the Dark Magicians killed!" She cried.

"My master and his master...they killed them both...they killed Paco too, they killed everyone I know and care about!" Derea's blood froze and she paled at the mention of the name of Sorcerer Tolleni's guardian. Now she was certain about who was killed. Her hold on the rabbit loosened a little, and it wasn't until Fal caught her attention that she noticed the small white creature looking at her. Derea swallowed the large lump that formed in her throat and opened her mouth to ask it something.

"Did Sorcerer Tolleni or your master manage to leave any message for anyone? An SOS signal or a letter or a note or something?" The rabbit looked past her, right at something behind her back but didn't say a word. Its eyes were dull, devoid of any sort of emotion. For a moment Derea didn't want to move, not wanting to find out what exactly the rabbit wanted to show her. She felt Fal turn around beside her and stare at the thing behind her.

"Derea, you ought to turn around and take a look at this..."

The Sorceress slowly turned, looking first over her shoulder at the thing that was against the wall right by the door. She didn't notice it the first time she entered because she had turned her attention in front of her, not at her sides. She was glad she didn't see it immediately because now she was forced to stare with her mouth agape, at the horror before her.

"Oh shit..."

Right before her very eyes were bloody parts of the human body hammered to the wall piece by piece. The vultures had already gotten there before her and had taken a few bites from their arms, legs and torsos. Half-torn skins exposed their veins, muscles and the hard white bones which were jutting out from the body. There were large pools of blood underneath the scene where some of the parts of their bodies were tossed there like garbage. She could still despairingly recognize the face of Sorcerer Tolleni, the oldest surviving Magician after the long war, whose head was nailed to the wall from his forehead. Among the pieces of human parts was the head of a younger looking boy. It looked like Tolleni decided to take the boy in and become his mentor. Their eyes were wide open with fear and pain, their faces distorted in forms no normal being could do. Derea pressed a hand over her mouth and could barely hold her sickness in as the stench of the decaying flesh overwhelmed her senses.

"Bastards...how could they do this to them...? This is madness..." She said to herself as she clenched her free hand into a tight fist. "They'll pay for what they did to them." She swore.

"I don't think that's the only message they wanted to give us." Fal told her as he flew towards the scene. "Take a look over here at the bottom. Something's written on the wall in blood. Sorcerer Tolleni must have written it when the Dark Magicians weren't looking. Before he was...when they...when he...you know what I mean." He cried out in defeat. Derea placed the white rabbit down on the floor before she walked up slowly to the wall, careful not to touch or stare at the bodies too long or else she would have vomited what was left of her breakfast, and crouched low to take a look at what Fal had pointed at. It was written in a language only people in the magicians' guild could understand and she began to read this message aloud, dread beginning to creep upon her whole body uncomfortably.

_**"They have a Sorcerer's necklace. They'll know where we all are."**_


End file.
